Mother defends hysterectomy for disabled daughter

[Squiglet]

http://news.google.es/news?q=hysterecto ... 4&ct=title

Does anyone else find this verging on the form of abuse???

This mother wants a hysterectomy for her disabled daughter because she's doubly incontinent and she doesn't want to be cleaning up menstrual blood, her daughter will never have a family, and her daughter will have to cope with the pain of menstrual cramps each month...

So she wants to subject her to a major operation to remove her womb even though there is no medical need. I am sorry but to me this verges on abuse...

My sister who is 17 has Downs Syndrome. Mentally she is the age of a 10 year old... she still plays with barbie dolls...so when her periods started at the age of 12 it was a big shock to her. My sister couldn't cope and wouldn't clean herself, became hysterical when she began to bleed.

My sister will never have kids, that's for certain and if she did they would be taken into care immediately. And my sister has had to deal with menstrual cramps even though she doesn't know what it is all about...

Yet no one in our family has ever considered resorting to something as barbaric as ripping her womb out... there are many many other things.. Now my sister has an implant in her arm.. It stops her periods and prevents her becoming pregnant should she ever have sex which is unlikely. There is also the contraceptive injection or mirena coil all of which will stop menstruation if used for an extended period of time resulting in far less trauma than enforced sterilisation?

So why hasn't this mother chosen one of these less invasive alternatives which are the equivalent to the enforced sterilisation that she is suggesting? Why just come to the conclusion that her womb needs to be removed?

What do others think?

 

[budge]

i don;t think its abuse.

it makes sense to me.

 

[rach]

i agree with you i think its wrong that they should even consider putting her through a major operation just for the convenience of not having to clean her up
next people will be trying to have colostomy bags fitted to babies so they wont have to change nappies things like this make me so mad xxxxxxx

 

[emma28]

I haven't read the article but going off what you've said it seems a bit ott when you can just solve it all with the implant. I've helped thousands of people with their personal care including that and it's no big deal really! You'd think especially if you were a mother and it was your child.

 

[Manda&Thomas]

i thik its a good idea but it is up to indivigual cases the implant doesnt always stop periods and neither does the coil they just do with most people i no people who have been on each and bleed and also got pregnant on the coil (not that they would prob have sex)
i think if the parent thinks its a good idea then it should be done if it will help the child/adult.
if i had a child with the same problems i think i would like it done as it would stop them having those few more problems they really dont need to deal with since they dont need that part of the body anyway.
manda xx

 

[emma28]

Suiqlet when I click on your link is shows about saunas for finnish people......I'm too easy to confuse this early in the morning

 

[Squiglet]

if i had a child with the same problems i think i would like it done as it would stop them having those few more problems they really dont need to deal with since they dont need that part of the body anyway.
manda xx

Technically, she the daughter doesn't need her legs and arms either... why not take them too? What difference does it make if she does or doesn't have them.. she can't walk, she can't use her arms...

Making statements about not needing something isn't always a simple as it may seem..

We don't need our appendix anymore, but why don't we all have our appendixes removed?

 

[Squiglet]

Suiqlet when I click on your link is shows about saunas for finnish people......I'm too easy to confuse this early in the morning

(Done hunny... sorry.. it is early and i've lots of blood by the vampires today )

 

[Sammystar]

I agree Squiglet. There are many other ways of preventing periods. She could have an implant, medication, even the Mirena coil.


Major invasive surgery for convenience seems barbaric to me.

 

[rach]

the woman and her daughter are on gmtv as im typing

 

[Tangerinedream]

She may be disabled but she is also growing into a woman. Being disabled does not encapsulate everything she is, so why take other elements of her being away from her, especially when like squig says, there are alternatives available. In the link there was a case of an American woman who did the same and took the breast buds away too- I think Im comenting more on that than the UK one.

 

[budge]

the alternatives may create more problems for her though. for instance if she had the coil then it could cause her infections, painful more severe periods etc,

shes not going to have any children in her lifetime . Why not take away what casues many women discomfort every month. It seems quite kind to me.

if there was a possiblity of her getting married and having children then i wold say it was barbaric. But her best interest are after all at the forefront here.
i have seen a hysterectomy being performed and its quite a quick procedure . As as she is young and had no children then it will be all the more easy for her.


crikey this isn't abuse. the girl is well loved and cared for. There are thousands of children being raped everyday and no one cares about them. Get this in perspective .

 

[rach]

did anyone see it on gmtv? the mother seemed very genuine and put her side across very well i can see her point and understand her views but this is still something i dont think i would choose to do if it was my daughter although saying that im not in that position

 

[Squiglet]

the alternatives may create more problems for her though. for instance if she had the coil then it could cause her infections, painful more severe periods etc,

shes not going to have any children in her lifetime . Why not take away what casues many women discomfort every month. It seems quite kind to me.

if there was a possiblity of her getting married and having children then i wold say it was barbaric. But her best interest are after all at the forefront here.
i have seen a hysterectomy being performed and its quite a quick procedure . As as she is young and had no children then it will be all the more easy for her.


crikey this isn't abuse. the girl is well loved and cared for. There are thousands of children being raped everyday and no one cares about them. Get this in perspective .

And there are no risks to have an invasive procedure such as a hysterectomy? Risks that to me seem to be far worse than a possible infection or menstrual cramps. Plus the Mirena coil is slightly different by releasing a hormone into the uterine lining making it thinner thus making periods lighter..

http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/280/main.html

Not to mention the possibility of early onset of menopause... Hands up everyone on here who thinks going through menopause is going to be great fun?



But my sister is doing well on the Noraday implant... The mother hasn't even given these alternatives ago yet... she just seems to have come to this conclusion and that's not fair... she's doing it for her interests as primary carer for her daughter...

 

[budge]

did anyone see it on gmtv? the mother seemed very genuine and put her side across very well i can see her point and understand her views but this is still something i dont think i would choose to do if it was my daughter although saying that im not in that position

i didn't see it.

but i have worked with secverely disabled people (adults and kids) and i know that what she is saying makes very good sense.
Im sure she loves her daughter and wants what is best.
it must be very hard on the both of them.

 

[budge]

the alternatives may create more problems for her though. for instance if she had the coil then it could cause her infections, painful more severe periods etc,

shes not going to have any children in her lifetime . Why not take away what casues many women discomfort every month. It seems quite kind to me.

if there was a possiblity of her getting married and having children then i wold say it was barbaric. But her best interest are after all at the forefront here.
i have seen a hysterectomy being performed and its quite a quick procedure . As as she is young and had no children then it will be all the more easy for her.


crikey this isn't abuse. the girl is well loved and cared for. There are thousands of children being raped everyday and no one cares about them. Get this in perspective .

And there are no risks to have an invasive procedure such as a hysterectomy? Risks that to me seem to be far worse than a possible infection or menstrual cramps.

http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/280/main.html

Not to mention the possibility of early onset of menopause... Hands up everyone on here who thinks going through menopause is going to be great fun?

as i said a hysterectomy on a girl of 15 who has not had childen would be a very easy and quick to recover from. They wouldn't even have to make an incision, They would go via the vagina.

 

[Squiglet]

It only lowers her percentage of risk... also, she is severely handicapped and I know, from experience with my brother and sister, that being handicapped means that they usually have many other health problems that could complicate a major op of any kind.

My sister had to have her tonsils out (nice simple op at 5 years old)... but the doc's at GOSH really didn't want to do it... in the end the risk of keeping them in out weighed the risk of the op... as it was she contracted MRSA and was very ill afterwards.. but the long term benefits to her health have been greater.

What has the mother said about trying other alternatives first before resorting to an op? (I'm asking honestly cos I can't really find any info on it.. )

 

[budge]

no idea. i haven't seen the gmtv thing about her.

 

[rach]

she did talk about the alternatives and had dr hilary with her backing her up saying they were unsuitable due to the fact that she is immobile and therefore at a much greater risk of thrombosis xxxxxx

 

[budge]

she did talk about the alternatives and had dr hilary with her backing her up saying they were unsuitable due to the fact that she is immobile and therefore at a much greater risk of thrombosis xxxxxx

quite right.