Animal Vets Sterilizing Human Females?

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Jul 1, 2016

I took care of a 50+ year old down syndrome woman whose brother took her to an animal vet to be sterilized when she was younger.
Anyone ever heard of something like this? Was it a common practice in the sixties/seventies for family of down syndrome and other mentally handicapped people to have a veterinarian sterilize them instead of a human doctor? Maybe because it was cheaper? I was just wondering about this.

Ummmmm I have never heard of this practice

pixiestudent2 · Jul 2, 2016

I heard of forcing those with cognitive disabilities being forced to be sterilized.... But not by a vet.

Sad.

hookyarnandblanket · Jul 2, 2016

It wouldn't surprise me. If a family had a child with Down Syndrome and little income, they probably would have resorted to using a vet.

Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN · Jul 2, 2016

I'm still confused

hookyarnandblanket · Jul 2, 2016

I'm still confused

In the mid 20th century, people with special needs were looked upon, for lack of better terminology, as freaks of nature who were either shuffled off to institutions where they were starved and neglected or sterilized and hidden from society. It was considered shameful to have a child who needed extra care.

Not all families could afford to institutionalize their children with special needs so they resorted to what they could afford, and using a vet to sterilize the child would have been the cheapest route to go, as bizarre as it may seem.

The Unite States has a very ugly history of eugenics which many are either unaware of or too embarrassed to admit knowing. It's worth researching.

WanderingWilder, ASN · Jul 2, 2016

If you are interested in learning more Google Laconia State School. Awful history.

Conqueror+, BSN, RN · Jul 3, 2016

In the mid 20th century, people with special needs were looked upon, for lack of better terminology, as freaks of nature who were either shuffled off to institutions where they were starved and neglected or sterilized and hidden from society. It was considered shameful to have a child who needed extra care.
Not all families could afford to institutionalize their children with special needs so they resorted to what they could afford, and using a vet to sterilize the child would have been the cheapest route to go, as bizarre as it may seem.
The Unite States has a very ugly history of eugenics which many are either unaware of or too embarrassed to admit knowing. It's worth researching.

Not always. Some families simply realized that their special needs daughter was not capable of parenting and took steps to ensure that they were not burdened with more children that they could not afford. Never heard of the vet thing though.

hookyarnandblanket · Jul 3, 2016

Not always. Some families simply realized that their special needs daughter was not capable of parenting and took steps to ensure that they were not burdened with more children that they could not afford. Never heard of the vet thing though.

Point noted. It was commonplace to force sterility on people with special needs without their consent even when their cognition was enough they could have cared for children, though.

In the early 20th century, authorities often sterilized repeat criminal offenders as young as 14 because they believed that criminal behavior was genetic.

WanderingWilder, ASN · Jul 3, 2016

Not always. Some families simply realized that their special needs daughter was not capable of parenting and took steps to ensure that they were not burdened with more children that they could not afford. Never heard of the vet thing though.

The problem with this is who gets to decide who is incapable of raising a child and who is? Sure some might be obvious but most would not be. Following these lines shouldn't all parents put their daughter on birth control as soon as they reach puberty, most 14, 15 are not capable of raising a child either, and any child would be a burden to the patrents, but they have the right to say no. No doctor would give a teenager the depo shot if they refused it.

heron, ASN, RN · Jul 3, 2016

At least through the early seventies, immigrant, minority and poor women were being sterilized not only against their will but often without their knowledge. This is a major factor in the requirement that information and consent must be in the patient's first language to be valid.

hookyarnandblanket · Jul 3, 2016

The problem with this is who gets to decide who is incapable of raising a child and who is? Sure some might be obvious but most would not be. Following these lines shouldn't all parents put their daughter on birth control as soon as they reach puberty, most 14, 15 are not capable of raising a child either, and any child would be a burden to the patrents, but they have the right to say no. No doctor would give a teenager the depo shot if they refused it.

At the time this was more commonplace, the parents, the state, and whomever held custody of the individual made the choice as the thinking was that anyone who had some sort of mental impairment wasn't capable of making their own decisions, even if they were mostly cogent.

We have come a very long way in autonomy for those with special needs, but there is still a long way to go. This is actually a matter my husband and I are struggling with currently. My youngest step daughter is 16, autistic, intellectually disabled to a mild extent which makes her comprehension level somewhere close to the age of 13. Legally, he can still make the decision for her to be on depo, and we have done it. However, when she turns 18, we will have to make the decision to either file for permanent guardianship or file for financial and medical power of attorney due to the fact she can't make those decisions on her own since her mental disabilities impair her ability to make choices even with informed consent.