Animal Vets Sterilizing Human Females?

[Skayda]

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.

[smartassmommy]

As recently as the early 2000s North Carolina still had laws on the books requiring the sterilization of epileptics. The law included penalties including loss of license if a doctor didn't report a patient as epileptic.