Thursday, July 16, 2009

World’s Oldest Mom Dies; Toddlers Orphaned

by Teresa

Remember the story of the world’s oldest mom? It made headlines around the world a few years ago.

Maria del Carmen Bousada of Spain sold her home to pay for fertility treatments. She lied to doctors at a clinic in California and told them she was 55—the age that’s the cutoff for treatment at the clinic.
In fact, she was 66 years old when her twin boys were born in 2006.  She was named the Guiness World Record holder for “oldest mother” when her true age was verified.

Now she’s dead from cancer at the age of 69, and because she used donated eggs and sperm, her children are parentless.  Reportedly, some other relatives are working to make arrangements for the care of the children… who are just two and a half years old.

Read more in this story from the Associated Press.

A lot of the chatter in the newsroom when this story came out focused on exactly this scenario: the likelihood that a woman in her 60s would die, leaving the children in the care of others at a very young age.  Many of my coworkers felt Bousada was making a selfish decision to have children, when there was a good chance she’d die before they reached adulthood.  I have to say that I agree.  Sure, there’s always a chance that something unforeseen will happen to the parents of young children, no matter what age. Car accidents and illnesses claim the lives of many mothers and fathers.  But by giving birth at age 66, without a spouse or partner, Bousada virtually assured that her sons would be orphaned, early in life.