# Doctor refuses to give vasectomy w/o partner's consent **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 4, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383 "2010-11-04T00:06:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/21 "2010-11-04T06:12:02Z")
Hmmm… I am ok with the doctor asking about the partner’s opinion as part of the ongoing counselling that should be a part of every medical procedure. And then take it from there as to whether or not to proceed. On a separate note, my wife recently had our second baby, we discussed a tubal ligation with the doc as part of the procedure should it proceed to C-Section, but this particular hospital “strongly frowns upon” the procedure so we couldn’t get it done. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/22 "2010-11-04T06:13:46Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Also, from what I’ve heard, many younger people can’t find a doctor willing to sterilize them even WITH the partner’s support, or if they don’t have a partner. I think the underlying attitude driving these policies is that everyone MUST want children at some point, even if they don’t realize it yet, so we have to protect from from their own misguided decisions. As if having a child you don’t want or aren’t prepared to care for doesn’t have its own consequences. I think its about not wanting to get sued by someone who changes their mind. I don’t think doctors are hard up for work, so they can chose to not perform a surgery that is even slightly more likely to get them in trouble later on. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/23 "2010-11-04T06:14:19Z")
IMO, if the patient knows and accepts the consequences of vasectomy/tubal ligation, then you have done your job as a doctor in informing your patient of those consequences. The patient’s relationship with his/her partner is not really any of your business. If you feel you must, you might point out that if your patient is in a relationship that s/he feels is a lifelong commitment, then s/he should talk to the partner. I speak from bitter experience here. I had to get my husband’s PERMISSION in order to get a tubal, while he had no obligation to even inform me if he’d gotten a vasectomy (although I rather think that him lying on the couch, clutching a bag of frozen peas to his crotchular region would tip me off). I don’t think that a doctor should be require to perform a sterilization operation, but doctors should be required to refer a patient to a doctor who will perform that sterilization. However, I do think that pharmacists should be required to fill a legal valid prescription, especially an emergency contraceptive, because these things sometimes need to be filled immediately, and the patient might not have a day or two to find and get to a drugstore and pharmacist that WILL fill the prescription. I’ve never heard of an emergency sterilization, but I’ve heard plenty of stories of women needing emergency contraception. ---
**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/24 "2010-11-04T10:01:57Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > In fact, when you think about it, sterilisation is a surgical intervention to _create_ a physical disability. Maybe, but as far as surgery-induced physical disabilities go, sterilization is well, well below the voluntary amputation of limbs that some apotemnophiles (or is it acrotomophiles ?) want so much. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/25 "2010-11-04T10:18:04Z")
> [@Khaki\_Campbell](#): > > Maybe, but as far as surgery-induced physical disabilities go, sterilization is well, well below the voluntary amputation of limbs that some apotemnophiles (or is it acrotomophiles ?) want so much. Of course. I’m not suggesting the two cases are on all fours, by any means. I’m just pointing out that sterilisation is differernt in an important respect from most other aspects of medical practice, in a way that does have ethical implications. And I think this is generally accepted in this thread. There isn’t much argument that a doctor has the same positive ethical obligation to provide treatment that he might have for most medical treatments. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/26 "2010-11-04T11:20:27Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > They also insisted my wife sign a form acknowledging she was informed about and approved of the procedure. Likewise - I scheduled the procedure, during which time they did the “counseling” where they explained three or four times that this was considered irreversible, and gave me a form for my wife to sign. I believe there have been cases where doctors have been sued by the partners of sterilized patients, for “loss of companionship” or something similar. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/27 "2010-11-04T13:34:18Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Likewise - I scheduled the procedure, during which time they did the “counseling” where they explained three or four times that this was considered irreversible, and gave me a form for my wife to sign. > > I believe there have been cases where doctors have been sued by the partners of sterilized patients, for “loss of companionship” or something similar. > > Regards, > Shodan Similar experience here. I can’t remember if they required my wife to sign anything but I do remember that my doctor wouldn’t do the procedure on anyone who didn’t already have a child. I suppose I could have lied. A friend had the same experience. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/28 "2010-11-04T14:21:18Z")
> [@Gestalt](#): > > This is a debate my friend and I were having, and I thought I’d move it over here to get a wider spectrum of opinions. > > We’re both very big on reproductive freedom for men and women, but I said that if I were a doctor who had a male pt seeking a vasectomy (or a female pt seeking a tubal ligation), I would ask if they were in a long-term relationship, and if so, how their partner felt about it. If they indicated that their partner did not know or disapproved, I would suggest that they work on this issue and come back. If the pt. refused, I would reserve the right not to perform the procedure and instead refer them to someone else. > > … > > What do you all think? I think you’d be very, very wrong. Not the doctor’s place. That said, I had a woman nearly refuse to cut my hair one time without my then-wife’s permission, and a furniture salesman DID refuse to sell my friend a recliner without his wife’s consent, so I guess you wouldn’t be without precedent. ---
**Author:** ![ripopgome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@ripopgome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ripopgome)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/29 "2010-11-07T03:54:34Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > That said, I had a woman nearly refuse to cut my hair one time without my then-wife’s permission To be fair, it was pubic hair, right? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383/30 "2010-11-07T16:20:09Z")
> [@Gestalt](#): > > Would you also feel that way about a doctor who refused to give abortions or a pharmacist who refused to prescribe birth control? I agree with Bricker’s position (they have the right to refuse and are a jerk). I do not believe a pharmacist should have the right under any circumstances to refuse to dispense any medication deemed safe & effective by the FDA. If you get hinky feelings about dispensing oral contraceptive – or fertility drugs or insulin or any other medication a doctor prescribes – find another line of work. They are beyond jerks. They have no right to their professional license, because pharmacists don’t get to make treatment decisions for patients. Most doctors are not trained in performing obstetric surgical procedures so it isn’t the same thing. If a doctor who is trained refuses to perform the service unless some third party is informed beyond the requirements of the law (ie, a husband/boyfriend – or parent where not required by law), yeah its the same thing, they are within their rights and are jerks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-refuses-to-give-vasectomy-w-o-partners-consent/559383.md?page=1)