Another retarded boy had vasectomy

Press, 2 October 1987, Page 5

Another retarded boy had vasectomy

By

KAY FORRESTER

The Christchurch surgeon who will today perforin a vasectomy on an intellectually handicapped boy, aged 16, has performed the operation on another similarly handicapped 16-year-old.

It was not the patient’s age that was important but whether he was sexually active, said the operating urologist, Mr Ted Arnold, last evening. The boy who will be sterilised today is a boarder at Hogben School in Halswell. The operation was sought by his mother. Mr Arnold would not comment on the particulars of the case because medical ethics did not allow it but he believed the mother was acting responsibly. “It is a very difficult question because there are no guidelines. The crux of the matter is whether the person is sexually active. It is all very well to say leave the operation until he is 20 or 30, but by then the damage is done. He may well have got some girl or

woman pregnant. “I believe parents are acting responsibly if they decide it is in the best interests of their intellectually handicapped son or daughter to have them sterilised,” he said. The national president of the Society for the Intellectually Handicapped, Dr Terry Caseley, a Christchurch pediatrician, also believed the mother, who lives in Australia, was acting in the boy’s best interests. “I believe she does not have day-to-day contact with him but that she cares very much about him and is concerned about unwanted pregnancies,” he said. Dr Caseley said he thought the boy was sexually active. Staff at Hogben School referred any questions about the boy’s surgery to

the principal, who was unavailable for comment last evening.

Mr Arnold said he “occasionally” operated on intellectually handicapped people. Most were older than today’s patient but one had been 16. He said he had talked about the case to colleagues and the boy’s doctor.

"We have to see each case on its merits. It is the sort of thing that provokes an emotional response. I believe the general questions should be discussed more but not with reference to specific cases.” Dr Caseley said the society was not directly involved in the boy’s operation. Nor was it going to Intervene by way of seeking a court injunction to stop the surgery. The society was not generally involved in

many sterilisations of handicapped persons. “The society does not initiate operations. I have talked to Mr Arnold about this one and am confident he has investigated the background,” he said. “The important thing is to prevent unwanted pregnancies. If the operation was not done the boy could well get some girl or woman, handicapped or not, pregnant.” The society tried to ensure the rights of individuals were protected and to explain as best as possible the operation to the patient — “obviously that is. not always easy orpossible.”

Mr Arnold said a vasectomy would not normally be performed on a 16-year-old unless he was intellectually handicapped.