Since giving birth to octuplets last month, Nadya Suleman has found herself under an unflattering spotlight. The 33-year-old, single, unemployed mother already had six children, all born, like the octuplets, through in vitro fertilization at the same Beverly Hills, Calif., clinic.

One set of questions has focused on the burden created for taxpayers. Suleman says she doesn’t consider the payments she is getting (food stamps, Social Security disability payments for three of the older children) to be welfare. Taxpayers could be excused for thinking otherwise. The hospital where the octuplets were born has requested an undisclosed sum from the state’s Medicaid program. ...

Her story has exposed the profound weakness of voluntary guidelines for fertility doctors.

Those guidelines suggest the transfer of one embryo for women under 35, and no more than two except under rare circumstances. Suleman had six implanted in her most recent pregnancy, two of which divided. ...

The behavior of the doctor and the mother was risky, selfish and a burden to society. The challenge is to develop clear, enforceable standards that seek to prevent such a situation from happening again.