First born octuplet is fourth to die

MILAN, Italy (AP) -- A fourth baby from a set of Italian octuplets born last month has died, doctors have said.

The baby girl, Margherita, was the first-born of the eight. She died at Milan's Niguarda Hospital on Tuesday, Dr. Luciana Marinelli said. The hospital declined to give further details at the family's request.

The parents -- Mariella Mazzara and Giovanni Pirrera of Trapani, Sicily, -- conceived octuplets after turning to fertility drugs. They had tried for six years to have a child.

The mother went into labour just 25 weeks into her pregnancy, and gave birth to Margherita on September 13. The other seven babies were delivered on September 16, but one died immediately after birth. Two others died in the next few days.

Some experts have been critical of the fertility treatment the couple received, saying more careful monitoring might have prevented Mazzara from conceiving such a dangerously large number of babies.

The family reportedly rejected aborting some of the fetuses to enhance survival chances for the rest.

All the babies, including the one born four days earlier than the others, weighed about 500 grams, or just over a pound, at birth.

Sicilian mother gives birth to octuplets
September 17, 2000
Fertility techniques increase births ... and risks
October 7, 1999

The Mulitiple Births Foundation
IVF Multiple Births

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