Calif: Octuplets Video Broke Labor Laws

State Regulators Charge Web Site's Exclusive Deal With Nadya Suleman Left 2 Of Kids In Danger

(AP)  A Web site's exclusive deal to document the lives of Nadya Suleman and her fragile octuplets came with a hidden risk: State regulators charged Tuesday that two of the newborns were endangered by long hours and inadequate supervision while under the relentless eye of a video camera.

The four citations against celebrity hunter RadarOnline came as the latest in a series of questions about the care and treatment of the octuplets born to a single, jobless mother who had lived on government disability payments for years.

"These babies were put at risk and exposed to conditions that violated California labor laws," state Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet said about the ongoing investigation. "In this case, we are dealing with premature babies."

The violations deal with a single day, March 17, and two of the newborns, Noah and Isaiah Suleman, who were the first of the octuplets to be brought home from a hospital to the Los Angeles suburb of La Habra.

RadarOnline, which had a secret deal to chronicle the mother of 14 and her newest babies over seven weeks, was cited for failing to get required state permits, videotaping the infants at hours and for periods of time banned by regulation, and for failing to provide a monitor to watch over them during taping sessions.

The Web site said in an online posting it was conducting a newsgathering operation and was not required to obtain permits or restrict its operation to certain hours.

The statement did not address payments to Suleman outlined in its contract with her.

But regulators concluded the deal went far beyond incidental news coverage. Bradstreet said the deal "was a ... whole production that was controlled, and has been controlled, by RadarOnline."

RadarOnline can contest the citations, which name only the Web site and carry possible penalties totaling as much as $3,000. Calls to Suleman's lawyer, Jeff Czech, were not immediately returned.

Suleman, a divorced mother, gave birth to the octuplets nine weeks premature on Jan. 26. She already had six children, ages 2 to 7.

The births set off media frenzy that quickly turned to public scorn with revelations that Suleman was not working and had conceived all her children through in vitro fertilization.

The Web site deal transformed Suleman's life into chaotic spectacle. RadarOnline has posted more than 100 items about Suleman and her octuplets, many of which include video.

The footage ranges widely, from her squabbles with her mother, to a trip to Disneyland with her daughter in tow, to her vow of celibacy and other details of her personal life.

She has worked her way through a series of public relations handlers and provided antic theater on the "Dr. Phil" McGraw show, which staged a baby shower for her.

McGraw mediated a squabble between Suleman and a nursing team that offered to help care for the babies, without cost. She later fired them.

In short order, the mother who gave birth to the longest-surviving set of octuplets was ridiculed across a host of Web sites. The so-called Octomom was lampooned in a rap music video, and angry citizens threatened to kill her publicists.

Suleman signed a confidential contract with RadarOnline in April that bars her from providing interviews with other information outlets. She is not allowed to say anything disparaging about RadarOnline for two years, according to the contract, which was reviewed by The Associated Press.

Suleman's fees were initially to be held in escrow. The amounts were redacted from the copy.

The agreement said Suleman wouldn't get paid until she provided material at least five days a week, for at least 30 minutes a day, over seven weeks. A separate fee would be paid for access during the homecoming for the last newborn released by the hospital, according to the contract.

Chris Myers of RadarOnline said he hadn't seen the citations and had no immediate comment. The site's executive vice president, David Perel, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Suleman has faced other public scrutiny in the past. Her workers compensation files were revealed through a public records request, and RadarOnline revealed that child welfare inspectors had visited the home based on a complaint.

Suleman is being sued by attorney Gloria Allred, who asked for a labor investigation and the establishment of a trust for the children on behalf of former child entertainer Paul Petersen, president of a group dedicated to the protection of child performers.

Regulators said they started the investigation independently.

Allred said Tuesday she welcomed the state labor action.

The octuplets - who at birth weighed from 1 pound, 8 ounces to 3 pounds, 4 ounces - spent their first weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center.

Tuesday's citations marked the second time in recent weeks that reality media has had a run-in with regulators.

Last month, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor began looking into whether the hit show "Jon & Kate Plus 8" is complying with child labor laws. The TLC series follows Jon and Kate Gosselin as they raise their eight young children, including 8-year-old twins and sextuplets who just turned 5.

[leogorky]

Well, this phenomenon has apparently become a new "career goal" in our decaying society...have a litter and get your own TV show. This woman could not manage her own life..how is she going to manage all these children? When you hear her speak, she sounds like an automaton just rattling off information she's learned from psych textbooks. She clearly has no idea what this information means. The amount of money these children will need in therapy when their older will be astonishing.

[gravyboat3000]

by mnbrant June 17, 2009 7:42 AM PDT
Looked at the radaronline vid. The Kids are cute! The old lady who was helping with the kids was a crabby social worker type. No wonder she was probably fired. She first complained about no blankets in southern california? Then she crabbed about the kids missing a day of school on the day the mom came back from the hospital. Octomom is a babe. Not as cute as my wife but still.
______
It does get chilly enough for blankets, even in SoCal.

And you're just a sucker for a big rack, and HUGE lips.

Although, I must say, the more,"baby fat", she loses, the better she's lookin. Especially in stripes.

Too bad State prisons in California don't use stiped jumpsuits anymore...

[gravyboat3000]

by bessc2007 June 17, 2009 5:40 AM PDT
Only in America can you get away with all this. It is the dark side of a democracy and 'freedom of speech'. It is like my Daddy always said, " Give some people an inch and they'll take a mile." Freedom of speech should have a beginning and an end, not limitless. Too many nuts out of the trees exploiting the rights, spoiling it for those that know moral restraints and how far is 'too far'. This is what happens from giving unfrettered freedom to retards. They will abuse it every time.
______

You seem confused. Do you understand the difference between the freedom of speech,(what you say), and the actions that individuals take?

So, you'd like to put,"limits", on the freedom of speech in Amerca?

Are you Sarah Palin?

[mnbrant]

Looked at the radaronline vid. The Kids are cute! The old lady who was helping with the kids was a crabby social worker type. No wonder she was probably fired. She first complained about no blankets in southern california? Then she crabbed about the kids missing a day of school on the day the mom came back from the hospital. Octomom is a babe. Not as cute as my wife but still.

[andie52]

That "old lady" is Nadya's mother Angela

[leogorky]

Yes, even in Southern California, babies, especially tiny premies need blankets. They lose heat quickly. Please know what you are talking about.

[gravyboat3000]

How is it that this website is charged with a crime, but Octomommy dearest isn't?

Child protective services needs to step in and take these kids away from the REAL danger, their Mom/Marketing director. She's the one who signed the contract with this website,she gave them access to the kids, she's as much to blame, if not more so.

[andie52]

mypatch tell me how forgiving you are after you watch the video that precipitated these fines.

first two babies homecoming

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2009/03/worldwide-exclusive-octo-babies-inside-home

[mypatch]

my my my, How forgiving we are? people just can't wait to condem this mother for having all those babies. She didn't plan to have all those children. The chance of all those eggs becoming children are rare. But it's her fault! Now she is trying to get off welfare and make some honest money and all you can do is put her down. What, are you jealous? Do you expect her to get a job and pay a babysitter? PLEEEas Help this woman even if it's honest advice you give. Don't hang her.

[iowa0319]

She already had 6 kids; living on welfare; why would/should she get impregnated again, even if only with 1 embryo? She has no morals, period. Neither does the doctor who performed the procedure. She is clearly an attention seeker (another word comes to mind).

[leogorky]

She is trying to make honest money? That's what you call exploiting these poor children and sentencing them to a life in a fishbowl? This is honest money???? Please!

[geminispyder-2009]

"The four citations against celebrity hunter RadarOnline came as the latest in a series of questions about the care and treatment of the octuplets born to a single, jobless mother who had lived on government disability payments for years."

Socialism at its finest.
Socialism... the government of choice for the lazy and inept.

[Slrman]

This is just another example of the "Octomom's" obsessive, relentless pursuit of the public eye. This woman is a sick individual and should never be permitted to raise these children. If I have ever seen an "unfit mother" this is it.

[zonkzilla]

Where is the concern about an unwed mother on welfare going to a fertility clinic to have more children? What about the doctor how performed the procedure? How did she pay for it? Was tax money used?

[bessc2007]

Only in America can you get away with all this. It is the dark side of a democracy and 'freedom of speech'. It is like my Daddy always said, " Give some people an inch and they'll take a mile." Freedom of speech should have a beginning and an end, not limitless. Too many nuts out of the trees exploiting the rights, spoiling it for those that know moral restraints and how far is 'too far'. This is what happens from giving unfrettered freedom to retards. They will abuse it every time.

[mnbrant]

I like the idea of giving unfettered freedom to retards. They have so little of it as it is being as group homes have to follow every t i t and tittle guardians say no matter how wrong.

[YCantWeAllGetAlong]

The most important part of this story is that hopefully this puts the state one step closer to getting those poor babies out of that house of horror. Remembering back to the first interview before the children came home and the reporter's story about the filth, the mountains of dirty clothes, the food smeared on the walls; she's disgusting. Her plastic surgery to look like a freak and her shopping trips to expensive makeup retailers seem more important to her than the ridiculous number of children she has. It's not ridiculous to have a very large family if you can actually afford to take care of them.

[thinkharder-]

"RadarOnline can contest the citations, which name only the Web site and carry possible penalties totaling as much as $3,000."

$3,000?!?!?!?! $3,000?!?!?!?! That is all the are liable for having purportedly risked the well being of an infant? $3,000?!?!?! Seems to me they should be on the hook for a lot more than that.

[mollydtt]

Those poor kids. With a mom like that, who needs enemies. She isn't looking out for their best interests, --she just wants to be a star.

[alykatma]

I wonder who paid for octomom's invitro fertilization. How can an unemployed mom afford this kind of procedure.

[naj1953]

this woman is sick and she is getting just what she wanted...a free ride. jon and kate plus 8 is sick too. They wanna make millions off their kids....

[naj1953]

this woman is sick and she is getting just what she wanted...a free ride. jon and kate plus 8 is sick too. They wanna make millions off their kids....

[mnbrant]

Putting premies to work in from of the camera. Wow what kind of sweat shop is this. Of course I wouldn't pay. The longer they can milk this the more free advertising they get. to: RadarOnline. What kind of person wants to see live coverage of babies in their cribs anyways? Heh