Aussie Couple Leaves Down Syndrome Baby With Thai Surrogate

[DownLoLarry]

 

Gammy, a six-month-old baby abandoned by his Australian parents, could die because his impoverished Thai surrogate mother cannot pay for medical treatment for his congenital heart condition.

 

The child will never know his twin sister, who was born healthy with him in a Bangkok hospital and has been taken away by their parents, who are living anonymously in Australia.

 

The story of how 21-year-old Pattharamon Janbua was cheated by a surrogacy agent in Bangkok and left to try to save the life of her critically unwell baby has emerged as Thai authorities move to crack down on IVF clinics, leaving hundreds of Australian couples facing uncertainty about their surrogacy children.

 

Ms Pattharamon says when she looks at Gammy, who has Down syndrome, she feels sorry for him and guilty.

 

“But I think this is not a bad karma ... it’s good karma that make us be together,” she says from her village in Chonburi province in northern Thailand.

 

“I would like to tell Thai women – don’t get into this business as a surrogate. Don’t just think only for money ... if something goes wrong no one will help us and the baby will be abandoned from society, then we have to take responsibility for that.”

 

Ms Pattharamon’s family were struggling to pay off debts last year when she was offered the equivalent of $11,700 to be a surrogate mother for an Australian couple who could not conceive a baby.

 

“I asked the agency, ‘Did I have to sleep with the man?’ I was an innocent young girl and I don’t know about this business," she says.

 

"The agent told me, ‘We are going to make a glass tube baby,’ but I didn’t understand.

 

 

“My husband agreed because we didn’t have money to pay our debt and I didn’t need to have sex with another man.”

 

Ms Pattharamon says three months after a doctor injected the Australian woman’s fertilised egg into her uterus, she discovered she was having twins.

 

The agent promised her an additional $1673 to have the second baby.

 

Four months into the pregnancy, doctors doing routine checks discovered one of the babies had Down syndrome. They told the Australian parents, who said they did not want to take the boy, according to a source familiar with the case.

 

“They told me to have an abortion but I didn’t agree because I am afraid of sin,” Ms Pattharamon says, referring to her Buddhist beliefs.

 

When the babies were born the agent took the healthy girl and left the boy with her.

Ms Pattharamon never saw the Australian couple.

 

Under the threat of not being paid, she lied to an official of the Australian embassy in Bangkok about the circumstances of the births, which allowed the Australians to take the healthy baby.

 

“But the agent never paid the rest of the 70,000 baht ($2341) owed to me,” she says.

A “Hope for Gammy” campaign (gofundme.com/bxci90) to raise money for a series of desperately needed operations and to help Ms Pattharamon care for the boy is under way in Bangkok, after the Thai Rath newspaper revealed their plight.

 

Some officials of the Australian embassy in Bangkok are supporting the campaign.

“Greedy, selfish people,” Nicole McCafferty, who has two surrogate children, wrote on a gofundme.com site.

 

An Australian donor wrote on the Thai Surrogacy Forum: ‘‘... to leave a twin behind? Like a toy you bought from a shop you picked the one you wanted and ripped away the baby from its twin. Will they tell the healthy twin [she] has a brother that oh, we decided to leave behind and ignore and never supported, not even financially.”

 

Senior Thai health and legal officials threw Thailand’s booming surrogacy business into crisis on Wednesday when they declared that, according to Thai law, the only legal surrogacy cases were those in which a married couple cannot conceive a child and engage a blood relative to carry their child in an altruistic surrogacy arrangement.

 

They declared as illegal any surrogacy arrangement commissioned by an unmarried couple or a couple whose marriage is not legal in Thailand, such as a same-sex couple.

 

Any arrangement in which money was provided to the surrogate to carry the child was also illegal, they said.

 

And any foreigner removing a child from its mother to another country permanently without permission from Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be violating the country’s human trafficking laws.

Sam Everingham, director of Families Through Surrogacy, an organisation that runs best-practice conferences for surrogacy, said the declaration placed ‘‘hundreds of Australian and other foreign parents in a very difficult position’’.

 

“Many of them had taken on trust the advice of Thai doctors and agents to enter into surrogacy arrangements in Thailand on the understanding that this was a reliable pathway to parenthood,” he said.

“Already Australian parents leaving Thailand with children via surrogacy are being asked for additional proof that their surrogate was not compensated for carrying their child.”

 

Mr Everingham said Gammy's case showed ‘‘the need for couples to be counselled before they go into any surrogacy, to ensure they know the risks they may be faced with that could lead to these situations".

"It’s a really sad story but not the first case we have seen in this area,” he said. “There have been recent tragic cases of foreign parents not accepting disabled children born through surrogacy.”

 

Mr Everingham said commercial surrogacy was not generally accepted in Thai society and had been conducted discreetly for years.

 

But he said operators who had arrived in Thailand to take advantage of the industry’s growth had crossed the line and were exploiting surrogates and would-be parents, and were not respecting local culture.

 

Some clinics were not certified by the Thai Royal College of Obstetricians.

Stephen Page, one of Australia’s leading surrogacy lawyers, said although it was illegal for people living in Queensland, NSW and the ACT to undertake commercial surrogacy in Thailand, “this has not stopped the deluge’’.

 

Mr Everingham said that at any one time there were about 20 Australian couples in Thailand for the birth of their child or children.

 

“It is a very significant market for Australia – particularly the same-sex couple market,” he said. “We have hundreds of Australian couples in our forums at the moment because they are worried about the security of surrogacy arrangements they have entered into.”

 

Thai authorities have also signalled a crackdown on clinics that use IVF procedures that allow selection of a baby’s sex, which brings dozens of Australian couples to Bangkok every month.

The procedures are banned in Australia.

 

Commercial surrogacy has been largely unregulated in Thailand.

 

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2457342/australian-couple-leaves-down-syndrome-baby-with-thai-surrogate/

[Patrick]

It's been all over the Australian media for the last 24 hours, I would expect the couple will be named and shamed soon.

[cobber32]

The law is one thing, but the real people affected deserve better.

Thankfully not all Australians are the same as the couple responsible; and the agents need looking into as well.

[Torurot]

What is the Australian government doing about this travesty?

[pacman]

What is the Australian government doing about this travesty?

 

Nothing, I don't think there's any role for the government to be buying into this, it's an ethical question not a legal one.

 

What Australian law have they broken? 

 

However the public are very unimpressed & if the couple are outed, their lives will be ruined. Social media are looking to crucify someone over this, this sort of shit happens in other countries, not here. No one wants to believe that "one of us" is capable of such behaviour.

[pacman]

It's not all bad for the surrogate. After declaring she wants to keep the baby, Australia has donated $135,000 in the last few days towards the child's care. It sounds like the poor Thai surrogate is going to be a quarter of a million dollars (or thereabouts) better off. Plus she has announced she is going to go after the agency who still haven't paid the rest of the money she was promised.

 

From a terrible situation something good has come of it. I hope the baby thrives & I hope the family can rise out of poverty courtesy of the good people who donated towards fixing this shameful episode.

[ciobha]

I admire your optimism Paccers, I really do (it's unlike you to see the glass half full for a change) or has some rascal kidnapped our Paccers and is now posting under his name???

 

But all joking aside, my gut feel tells me that the near quarter million Aus. Dollars, plus the global donations she has been receiving from sympathisers, will only mean the villagers will drink and be merry for months, uncles cousins and friends will have that new Hilux/ Honda Click they always dreamed of, and sisters and aunts will be straight down the gadget store for the very latest i-phone. But perhaps I am just being an old pessimist.

[rxpharm]

Here's a follow up to the article, and it sounds like at least for the care of the Down's baby medical costs, the pessimist is wrong. This was published in today's Bangkok Post.

 

 

 

Charity to pay Gammy's bills

• Published: 2/08/2014 at 02:50 PM
• Online news:

An Australian charity is paying the medical bills for a critically ill baby boy born to a Thai surrogate mother who had been hired by an Australian couple.

Hands Across the Water was also arranging on Saturday for the boy, named Gammy, to be transferred from a hospital in Chon Buri to a private hospital in Bangkok, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Saturday.

The charity was chosen by the organisers of the Hope for Gammy online fund-raising campaign, who have raised A$150,000 (4.5 million baht) as of Saturday to help the boy.

Gammy was born to Pattharamon Chanbua, 21, of Chon Buri in December. The agent who arranged the surrogacy took his healthy twin sister but left him behind.

The unidentified Australian couple have faced a firestorm of criticism for "abandoning" the boy, but it is not clear whether they knew any details about the case, or even that the surrogate was carrying twins.

It has been reported that when the agent who arranged the surrogacy learned that the boy would have health problems, Ms Pattharamon was asked to terminate her pregnancy. She refused on religious grounds.

Gammy was born with Down's syndrome and also has a heart condition that requires surgery. He was admitted to hospital on Thursday and his condition was critical but stable on Saturday. A spokesman for the charity said the child should make a healthy recovery but would face years of medical care.

"I’ll take care of Gammy on my own. I will not give my baby to anybody," Ms Pattharamon told the Sydney Morning Herald.

She expressed gratitude for the funds that had been raised on Gammy's behalf and said she hoped to be able to use some of the money to help other babies with health problems.

"They [the surrogacy agency] told me to carry a baby for a family that does not have children. ... They said it would be a baby in a tube," Ms Pattharamon told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

She said she agreed to carry the child for a fee of A$16,000 (475,000 baht) - enough to educate her own two children and pay back debts.

"I wish they will love my baby. ... I forgive them for everything. That is the best thing I can do, forgive…it is best for everybody,” said Ms Pattharamon.

"I don’t feel upset or angry about them anymore. They might have their own problems too."

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the Gammy story was an "incredibly sad" situation.

"I guess it illustrates some of the pitfalls involved in this particular business," he told reporters on Friday.

Paying for surrogacy is illegal in Thailand, according to Tares Krassanairawiwong, deputy director-general of the Department of Health Services Support at the Ministry of Public Health.

"Surrogacy can be done in Thailand but it has to comply with the laws," he said. "A surrogate has to be related to the intended parents and no money can be involved."

The Gammy case has raised concerns that Australia will ban international surrogacy.

Commercial surrogacy, in which a woman is paid to carry a child, is not permitted in Australia but couples are able to use an altruistic surrogate who receives no payment beyond medical and other reasonable expenses.

However, Surrogacy Australia said more couples choose to go overseas than find an altruistic surrogate at home, with 400 or 500 each year venturing to India, Thailand, the United States and other places to do so.

"It's just much easier overseas," chief executive Rachel Kunde told AFP. "There's so much red tape involved (in Australia)."

Ms Kunde said the details of the latest case were not clear, and it was not known whether the Australian couple involved were even aware the boy had been born or had been told that he had been aborted.

She said that Australia, which has no national legislation on surrogacy, meaning some states already banned commercial surrogacy arrangements overseas, needed better regulation.

"Our greatest fear is that Australia is going to ban international surrogacy altogether," she said. "We are hoping that the government will make accessing surrogates in Australia easier."

 

 

Let's hope the rest of the funds are handled as wisely.

[seven]

 will only mean the villagers will drink and be merry for months, uncles cousins and friends will have that new Hilux/ Honda Click they always dreamed of, and sisters and aunts will be straight down the gadget store for the very latest i-phone. But perhaps I am just being an old pessimist.

The brand new Hilux pickup truck is most likely ordered, the rest will be spent on Sang Som (maybe Johnny Walker red) and gambling.

 

The news has  reached this continent as well, isn't it sweet what money can buy from the third world.

[pacman]

I admire your optimism Paccers, I really do (it's unlike you to see the glass half full for a change) or has some rascal kidnapped our Paccers and is now posting under his name???

 

But all joking aside, my gut feel tells me that the near quarter million Aus. Dollars, plus the global donations she has been receiving from sympathisers, will only mean the villagers will drink and be merry for months, uncles cousins and friends will have that new Hilux/ Honda Click they always dreamed of, and sisters and aunts will be straight down the gadget store for the very latest i-phone. But perhaps I am just being an old pessimist.

 

The day this story hit the news here in Australia I knew it would end OK. There was an immediate uproar & a demand to right the wrong. Money is pouring into the fund established for baby Gammy. And with "Hands Across The Water" administering the distribution of the money there is less chance of it being squandered by the family & everyone in the village who will demand their cut. 

 

But once the baby has received his medical treatment, sooner or later the charity will be pressured to hand over the balance of the money. I don't think the mother will see any of it. We all know what happens next, I can only hope the charity applies some stiff conditions to go with the spending of the money.

 

I am not always pessimistic but I love melodrama & that isn't the natural bedfellow of optimism. So while I might sometimes post dark pessimistic views, that's only because I find doing so to be most cathartic. Away from the forum I like to see the good in life & am optimistic about many things.

[Patrick]

This thing gets worse:

Yesterday we  heard in the Australian media that the couple (from Western Australia) were unaware of the existence of the boy twin???

Now this

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/wa-man-reported-to-be-father-of-surrogate-baby-gammy-a-sex-offender/story-e6frg6nf-1227014282798?nk=6761ffeaa9e4ab0e3c25c7760ed1d401

[Torurot]

and now with all the money the Mother wants the girl back. What a mess!

[pdogg]

 

The West Australian couple at the centre of the baby Gammy controversy says his Thai surrogate mother has misled the world over the situation, and they were told when he was born that the boy had only a day to live.

The Bunbury couple - David and Wendy Farnell - say they have been traumatised by a messy legal battle and heavy media attention which has portrayed them as heartless.

 

In a statement to the Bunbury Mail issued through a family friend, the couple said allegations that they abandoned baby Gammy were lies.

“This has been absolutely devastating for them, they are on the edge,” said the family friend.

 

“Legally they have been told not to say anything but they wouldn’t be able to anyway.”

 

The friend spoke to the Mail to give the parents a voice during the worst experience of their lives.

 

She said reports made by Thai surrogate mother Pattharamon Janbua that the couple had requested an abortion when they found out Gammy had Down syndrome, and that they had subsequently abandoned the baby boy, were completely false.

 

The birth of the twins had been planned to take place at a major international hospital in Thailand.

 

But Ms Pattharamon had gone to another smaller hospital, which made the surrogacy agreement void, according to the couple.

This meant that the Farnells had no legal rights to the babies, even though they are the biological parents. 

 

The babies were born two months premature due to medical complications. She said the couple was not told that Gammy had Down syndrome, but they were told he had a congenital heart condition.

 

 “Gammy was very sick when he was born and the biological parents were told he would not survive and he had a day, at best, to live and to say goodbye,” she said.  

Ms Pattharamon then said she wanted to keep Gammy and give him a proper Thai funeral.

The couple became embroiled in a legal battle to bring home the female twin. The 21-year-old surrogate mother finally agreed to hand the baby girl over, but the couple was terrified she could change her mind.

 

“All this happened when Thailand was in a military lockdown and very difficult to get around,” the friend said.

 

“The biological parents were heartbroken that they couldn’t take their boy with them and never wanted to give him up, but to stay would risk them losing their daughter also.

 

“They prayed for Gammy to survive but were told by doctors that he was too sick, not because of the Down syndrome but because of his heart and lung conditions and infection.”

 

Mr and Mrs Farnell spent two months in Thailand and extended their visas but due to military unrest said they had no option but to leave without Gammy.

 

Claims from the surrogate mother that the couple had “ignored” Gammy when they visited the hospital were completely untrue, according to the friend.

 

She said they were not allowed to touch or hold either of the twins.

 

The couple had bought baby items for both babies, not just the little girl.

 

David Farnell is a well-known Bunbury electrician. He has three grown-up children, and is believed to have married his second wife Wendy Li in China in 2004.

 

Media outlets have been camped outside the parents’ South Bunbury home since early Monday morning.  

 http://www.smh.com.au/national/gammys-parents-reveal-their-side-of-the-story-20140805-100ngq.html

[pacman]

The parents have been exposed as liars. Just when you think this story can't get any worse, it is now revealed that the father of the twins is a convicted paedophile who has served two terms in jail.

 

I wonder what his Chinese bride thinks of that. I am sure he didn't mention it when they met through an on-line dating site. 

 

Now the authorities are really sitting up & taking notice. Will the parents lose custody of the girl they brought home? Will the wife stay with her new husband now his past has been revealed? Will baby Gammy come to Australia?

 

This whole drama has turned into the story that keeps on giving. 

[seven]

The parents have been exposed as liars. Just when you think this story can't get any worse, it is now revealed that the father of the twins is a convicted paedophile who has served two terms in jail.

 

 

The aussies?

[pacman]

The aussies?

 

The parents are Aussie, dad's a local, mum's from China. 

[Kahuna]

Finally something the USA is not guilty of....

 

All over the news here in the States....

 

I do hope the Thai women is allowed to keep the baby............

[pdogg]

 

Authorities and police were shocked again after they found another 21 surrogate babies at the same condominium on Lard Prao 130 where they earlier found and brought nine surrogate babies with the same father out  to take care of by the state-owned Parkkred  nursery home.

Of the 21 children found at another room in The Niche ID condo on Lard Prao 130, 12 are male, and the rest are female. Their ages ranged from  four-month old to about 10-month-old.

 

The room located near a Room No 466/1551 on the seventh floor of this luxury condominium room where authorities found nine surrogate babies with same father.

 

Authorities said of the latest find, all the surrogate babies have foreign parents -  western and Japanese nationals  – as shown by the family names of the babies in the household registration document which has Mr Samran, a  41-year-old man, as the owner.

 

But it was not immediately known if how many of the babies have same fathers. Most of the babies look  western with a few look Japanese, authorities said.

Police are looking for Mr Samran for questioning as they are very suspicious why he has to take care of so many children in his room.

 

 According to Channel 3 today, of the 21 babies, there are also triplet babies, and three twin babies.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/another-shocking-discovery-lard-prao-130-condominium/

[pdogg]

An Australian same-sex couple has been permitted to leave Thailand with a surrogate baby after background checks by Thai immigration authorities, reports said Sunday.

 

The couple sought assistance from the Australian embassy in Bangkok on Friday after they had been denied the departure.

Four Australian and American couples were prevented from leaving the kingdom with children born from Thai surrogate mothers on Thursday.

The scrutiny follows a surrogacy controversy in Thailand brought to attention by an Australian couple that allegedly abandoned a Down syndrome surrogate baby.

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Australian-couple-allowed-to-leave-Thailand-with-s-30241106.html