Rajo Devi Lohan gave birth just 18 months back, at age 70. That made her the world’s oldest mother to date. Now, Rajo has been telling reporters she is dying. Pictures of the little girl, Naveen, squatting next to her mother in the dirty and rudimentary Indian hospital room are all over the web, and are heart-breaking. Rajo, meanwhile, says that she never regretted motherhood and that she was pleased to hear her daughter call her “Ma”.By becoming a mother after having struggled with infertility for many decades, Rajo fulfilled her life-long dream, and brought honor back to her family in a country where heirs are still all-important. I am wondering if she was a little disappointed IVF, which costs $2,000 in India, did not bless her with a boy?

The same controversial fertility clinic that also helped a 66 year old woman deliver triplets got Rajo through IVF (a grueling procedure for any woman – it must have been hell at her age!) and then delivered her baby by c-section. Now, her 60 year old “little sister” is taking care of Naveen.

That is a lot of news about fertility treatments with dubious ethics coming from India in the last few days. It makes me wonder if the bottom line is all such fertility clinics care about, and if they have any commitment to ethical work practices at all. The customer is king, it seems, and any request is honored, as long there is money to pay for the procedures. Rajo and her husband were said to have taken out loans their IVF daughter will never be able to pay back in her life time, and now she will be left without a mother.

What are your opinions about this case? Do you think there should be a maximum age for fertility treatments? Would you want to be treated by the doctors who helped Rajo get pregnant at 70?