Octomom has been dominating ethics and bioethics news. For all of you wondering what are the current standards guiding American reproductive medicine, see the below advice published by ASRM.  Their disclaimer:

“These guidelines have been developed to assist physicians with clinical decisions regarding the care of their patients. They are not intended to be a protocol to be applied in all situations, and cannot substitute for the individual judgment of the treating physicians based on their knowledge of their patients and specific circumstances… Medical science and ethics are constantly changing, and clinicians should not rely solely on these guidelines.”    

• 2008 Guidelines for gamete and embryo donation: a Practice Committee report Provides guidelines for sperm, oocyte, and cryo-preserved embryo donations as well as for the psychological assessment of gamete donors and recipients.
• Guidelines for development of an emergency plan for in vitro fertilization programs republished November 2008; originally published April 2008
• Guidelines for reducing the risk of viral transmission during fertility treatment
  republished November 2008; originally published April 2008
• Guidelines on number of embryos transferred republished November 2008; reviewed June 2008
• Revised guidelines for human embryology and andrology laboratories published November 2008; revised June 2008
• Revised minimum standards for practices offering assisted reproductive technologies republished November 2008; reviewed June 2008
• Vaccination guidelines for female infertility patients republished November 2008; reviewed June 2008

On a slight tangent, is the ASRM correct?  Does ethics change or merely the innovations in need of attention?  I started studying physics because of my love for Einstein’s theory of relativity. Time and mass might change at the speed of light, but at least some ethical truths remain constant no matter the speed of science, progress, and innovation.