In what’s being called a medical record in India, a 28-year-old woman in Madhya Pradesh miscarried 10 babies in one night this week.
The Indo-Asian News Service reports that Anju Kushwaha delivered nine of the babies late Sunday night before she arrived at a hospital, where she delivered the 10th.
Doctors revealed Monday that all of the babies were dead at 12 weeks.
It appears fertility drugs may have contributed to Kushwaha’s conception and unusually high multiple pregnancy. According to the Business Standard, doctors at the hospital said the miscarriages followed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome — a complication from fertility medication.
“It seems that that there was no regular follow-up of her pregnancy after [in vitro fertilization],” Dr. Sumitra Yadav, a senior gynecologist, told The Times Of India. “At least three offspring could have been saved by reducing the pregnancy.”
While the birth of 10 children at once is rare, there have been other reported cases of doctors delivering a high number of babies in a single delivery. As Xinhua News Agency notes, a doctor in Rome claimed to have removed 15 from the womb of a 35-year-old woman in 1971.
Nadya Suleman, the “Octomom” who gave birth to eight babies in 2009, currently holds the Guinness World Record for most surviving children delivered in a single birth.
