Posted on 05/10/2005 1:27:46 PM PDT by Wolfie
Mother of sextuplets faces loss of Medicaid-funded nurse
WYOMISSING - A Berks County woman with year-old sextuplets and 4-year-old twins will appeal for continued nursing help from Medicaid beyond a one-year cutoff.
Kate Gosselin, whose husband has a 90-minute commute to a state job in Harrisburg, said she cannot safely manage eight small children.
The sextuplets - only the second set born in Pennsylvania and among fewer than 30 sets born worldwide - arrived 8 weeks premature but are thriving as they near their first birthday Tuesday.
"I will shout from the highest mountain that these are my children and I love them and I need help," Kate Gosselin said.
While the Gosselins appreciate the volunteers who streamed through their home in the early months, the children's routines improved with the arrival of Angie Krall, a licensed practical nurse who spends 30 hours a week with the family. Medicaid provides the temporary nursing support for premature babies, Gosselin said.
"She's fine-tuned and I trust her," Kate Gosselin said of the nurse, Angie Krall. "She's as good as a parent in this home."
The family cannot afford to pay Krall on their own, she said. Jonathan Gosselin, an information technology specialist who now works in the Gov.'s Office, was unemployed for much of last year.
Kate Gosselin said she feels society has a responsibility to help with the children, since modern medicine promotes the use of fertility drugs, which can lead to multiple births.
She has talked by telephone with Bobbi McCaughey, the Carlisle, Iowa, woman who delivered the world's only set of surviving septuplets in November 1997. McCaughey named the loss of privacy and the oversight of volunteers as among her biggest difficulties, Kate Gosselin said.
On the bright side, the Gosselin babies seem to have skirted the health problems that can plague premature babies and multiples. Each now weighs between 18 and 22 pounds.
"I look at six healthy babies and I feel a lot better, because it could be a lot, lot worse," Jonathan Gosselin said.
Nope sorry. That's the risk you run when you take fertility drugs.
Think I'll forward this story to Neal Boortz though. he loves to gripe about people who have kids they can't afford.
Okay, I'll probably get bashed for this but here goes....
Whatever happened to accepting the fact that you cannot have children and adopting instead, or just owning pets or becoming a child care professional or something.
Last night on Nanny 911 they profiled a family in which the mother cares for 23 adoptive kids, including several with special needs, plus her husband who is a quadriplegic. The kids and the parents all seemed happy. The mother was obviously an organizational genius. About the only thing the nannies did was to allow the parents to have a 3-day vacation.
One thing the show didn't get into was where the money for this family came from.
If so, I believe she made the superior choice.
Not only did Kate decide to use fertility drugs, but she almost certainly went against her fertility doctor's advice and proceeded with insemination in spite of ultrasounds showing a huge number of follicles. Doctors routinely advise cancellation of cycles with that many follicles, unless it's an IVF cycle where all the eggs will be taken out, but only a small number will be transferred back in after fertilization -- that's clearly not what this was. She wanted to make sure she didn't have to spend a few extra bucks to do another cycle, with lower hormone doses, so she went ahead. And now she wants us to pay for raising the huge brood she got.
Like the twins didn't give her a clue?
There's no reason people who want to have their own biological children shouldn't pursue fertility treatments. But these huge litters of babies are the result of short-sighted choices made during the fertility treatment, almost always against doctors' advice.
You might want to check out my post (#68) on that. First of all, hospitals are required under a 1986 law to treat anyone with an emergency medical condition. Under the 2003 Medicare law that this reimbursement falls under, hospitals are required to report their illegal status in order to receive the money.
She could re-nounce her citizenship, go to Mexico, and come back as illegal alien.
I think thisis where our conservative values of Faith and Family come in. She and her husband obviously need help with these kids. She's on shaky ground when she says that her fellow citizens 'n' taxpayers should be dunned for this, but this is what church and kinfolks are for.
Her church could raise money both for in-home help and for other expenses they can't manage.
There must be a church women's group. Volunteers?
They must have relatives, neighbors, and friends?
I don't think conservatives have thought it out, really, if our only response is "NOT WITH MY MONEY YOU DON'T!!" We've got something to conserve here: namely, a struggling family with a bunch of kids.
No tax dollars, OK. But then what? The many, voluntary, voluntay voluntary associations of mutual help which should exist---- which could be created --- to help in these situation.
Don't give me no 'abortion' alternative. If we're not into conserving life and family, we've lost the heart of what we're all about.
Sorry, blind rage.
We don't owe this woman anything, but I would rather help her than to help illegals with 'free' medical care!! At least she is an American!! Since our government has pledged one billion to give illegals free medical care, then let's help one of our own.
So as a RN, she should have known and thought about the consequences of fertility drugs.
I'm really getting tired of hearing about and paying taxes for people who don't seem to be able to connect the dots.
Good point
Rage Against The Machine ?
"Whatever happened to accepting the fact that you cannot have children and adopting instead"
It's not as easy as some would think to adopt. I'd like to see a program were potenaial adoptive parents are paired with potential abortive mothers. The adoptive parents take care of all natal care (as opposed to paying for fertility treatment) and there is one less abortion. win- win
What this lady is suggesting is absurd
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/111554429826600.xml
She's also relieved she no longer has to rely on the stream of volunteers who came and went at nearly all hours during the sextuplets' early months.
She said she was grateful but also felt severely stressed over matters such as the constant need to update volunteers regarding changes in routines, and the loss of privacy. It got so bad she questioned her sanity.
(snip)
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