unplanned pregnancy after wanting a tubal ligation.....

TweetiePieRN · May 25, 2004

7 years ago, just a few months after I gave birth to my son, I asked my doctor if he would perform a tubal ligation on me and he said "NO". The reasoning behind it was that I was only 22 at the time. I knew I only wanted one child and no more for the rest of my entire life, but still he said he would not do it.....thinking I would eventually change my mind. Instead, he told me the best next thing would be the IUD...which I did get and had for 3 years until it caused major cramps, bleeding for 10 days and inbetween periods and caused a lot of lady partsl infections....
To get to my point... now at the age of nearly 30...a year ago I became pregnant and needless to say I did not want to be pregnant...this unplanned and unwanted pregnancy resulted in 'termination'....my question is...
do i have any grounds to sue my doctor that told me 7 years ago that I could not get a tubal ligation....which led to an abortion....which I think I deserve some sort of compensation for what I had to go through and that could have been avoided if I had my tubes tide in the first place 7 years ago. I knew then and still know now, what I wanted and always wanted...was to have no more children after my one son.
Any help here would be appreciated. Thank you.

What could you sue for? The cost of the termination?

SCRN1 · May 25, 2004

I don't think so. Sorry.

I used to work L&D and I know that lots of docs wouldn't do a tubal to those of a younger age. That's too young to know (for most people) what they will want to do years down the road...you could change your mind and want another baby, meet someone new & the two of you want to have a child together, or any number of other reasons. It is NOT guaranteed that a tubal can be reversed.

The court may look at it that even though this physican refused to do the tubal...which, by the way, is ELECTIVE...that shouldn't have stopped you from going to another physician or using some other form of birth control. Sorry to say this, but I'm sure the physician is not the one who caused your pregnancy if ya know what I mean.

lisamc1RN, LPN · May 25, 2004

No, I don't think you have much of a case. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't know what you would sue for? I would not think that the doctor is legally obligated to give you a tubal ligation at any age, and many don't do it at such a young age. When I was 27, my doctor had a very serious discussion with me about tubal ligations. I understood, and went ahead with the ligation. Btw, many women under the age of 30 regret a decision for tubal ligation. I had my tubal reversal done in 2002, and now have my sweet baby boy. :) I think it is actually very kind of doctors to give women some more time to make such a huge decision. Not everyone that changes their mind and has a reversal has a successful outcome.

smk1, LPN · May 25, 2004

i don't think you have any grounds to sue anybody. The doctor was being responsible as most young women really can't make such a permanent decision at that age. Still if you knoew it was the right decision for you , then you should have either used 2 forms of birth control, abstinence or went to another doctor for the procedure. It was your choice. Sorry you had to go through an abortion though!

BadBird, BSN, RN · May 25, 2004

I don't see why you would even think you could sue for that reason. You had the option of seeking other opinions from other physicians which you obviously did not do. I do feel for you though, I think that doctors need to really listen to our requests, after all they are not the ones raising unwanted kids or having to make decisions to terminate unwanted pregnancies.

lizmatt · May 25, 2004

Were you using any kind of birth control when you got pregnant? If you were not, you had to be aware that pregnancy was a risk. I can somewhat see if you were using some type of birth control that failed and resulted in pregnancy where you would be upset with the doctor from 7 years ago but no grounds for a lawsuit. I can see a perspective that if you had a tubal ligation the chances of birth control failure would have been a lot less likely. But, even then if you really knew that you were ready to get this procedure you could have found someone to do it. If you were not using another form of birth control, I see in no way how you could put any blame on the physician.

Sadie04 · May 25, 2004

I don't think you have any grounds to sue the physician. You did have the option of going elsewhere for the tubal. IMO I think we are way to "sue happy" in this country, just my opinion though.

fergus51 · May 25, 2004

No. Personally, I think it's a little odd to think you deserve compensation for this. You had sex knowing you had the chance of becoming pregnant.

luckyladyore · May 25, 2004

Why didnt you go to someone else and get the procedure done? Why if you knew you didnt want the responsibility of a child didnt use other means of birthcontrol method(which is never 100%effective ) only abstience!!! You cant take your frustrations out on something that happend several years ago Didnt you learn Anything from the first time! Sounds like your looking for someone to BLAME!!!! that long ago he doesnt even remember YOU....... Get over it

MyAngel · May 25, 2004

thank you so much for all your responses.....i was certain that is what i would get...no grounds for suing....i just wanted to hear what others had to say...

and yes i did have another doc tell me the same thing...sorry, i didn't mention that.

it was mainly a curiosity post.

but thank you....!!!!!

momx2 · May 25, 2004

Why didnt you go to someone else and get the procedure done?
That was my question. Why didnt you go back later down the road and have it done. I was 21 when I had my 2nd child. I have a little boy and a little girl. I knew I didnt want anymore children but my doctor wouldnt perform a tubal d/t I was so young. I am now 23 years old and am going back this summer to have it done. I am not downing you by any means, but I dont think you would have a case. You could have gotten your tubes tied later.