Submission + - Hysterectomies for the Profoundly Disabled? (bbc.co.uk) 1
An anonymous reader writes: According to the article on BBC News, "The mother of a severely disabled teenager has asked doctors to give her daughter a hysterectomy to stop her from starting menstruation." The girl is a 15 year-old British girl named Katie Thorpe, and has cerebral palsy. Her mother, Alison Thorpe says, "By stopping menstruation it's allowing Katie to enjoy life to the full without the problems menstruation...the mood swings, the tears, the stomach cramps, the pain, the discomfort, the embarrassment." The downsides? Well, according to her mother, "She's not going to get married and she's not going to have children...Katie is not going to become a normal adult." The doctors involved are making sure they're given a green light from the legal angle before they go forward with the procedure.
What do the opponents have to say about this? Andy Rickell of Scope, a charity for the disabled, said, "This case raises fundamental ethical issues about the way our society treats disabled people and the respect we have for disabled people's human and reproductive rights." Simone Aspis, of the UK's Disabled People's Council, said, "It is very clear to us that no operation should be undertaken if there is absolutely no clinical benefit to the person concerned." One opponent, Rickell, implied that the operation is being pursued by the family of the disabled child in order to make their lives easier rather than to ease the burden on Katie. The article reads, "He said that it was for society to adapt to the needs of disabled people, not the other way round." Clearly, this is an important and interesting bio-ethical fight.
What do the opponents have to say about this? Andy Rickell of Scope, a charity for the disabled, said, "This case raises fundamental ethical issues about the way our society treats disabled people and the respect we have for disabled people's human and reproductive rights." Simone Aspis, of the UK's Disabled People's Council, said, "It is very clear to us that no operation should be undertaken if there is absolutely no clinical benefit to the person concerned." One opponent, Rickell, implied that the operation is being pursued by the family of the disabled child in order to make their lives easier rather than to ease the burden on Katie. The article reads, "He said that it was for society to adapt to the needs of disabled people, not the other way round." Clearly, this is an important and interesting bio-ethical fight.
