Fertility treatment fame
PATRICIA Frustaci, who made headlines in 1985 when she gave birth to seven children but struggled with the publicity and heartache of seeing four babies perish, has died. She was 63.
Frustaci, who suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, died on Saturday at a San Diego hospital, her eldest son, Joseph Frustaci of San Diego, said. Frustaci was an English teacher in Riverside and the mother of Joseph when she gave birth after fertility treatments. At the time, it was the largest multiple birth in the US.
However, the babies were delivered 12 weeks prematurely and had serious health problems.
One girl was stillborn, and two boys and a girl died within weeks. Medical expenses soon topped $ 1 million. The family sued the fertility clinic and a doctor, alleging wrongful death of the four children and negligence that led to health problems for the surviving children.
“There is not a day that goes by that we don’t talk about them,” Frustaci, speaking of the dead children, said in a deposition. “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t look at their pictures.” The clinic later settled the lawsuit without acknowledging any wrongdoing. It agreed to pay $ 450,000 and to provide monthly payments to the three survivors for life.
The financial problems, the publicity and the stress of looking after children who needed round- the- clock care took a toll on Frustaci, who also suffered from bipolar disorder, her son said.
“It was difficult,” he said. “She’s a normal woman thrust into notoriety ... the overall frenzy took its toll.” However Frustaci, a devout Mormon, never had second thoughts about her decision to have the fertility