Why do i have to sign consent for DH to have a vasectomy?

[BPisme]

DH is going to have a vasectomy tomorrow, and I have to go along and sign a consent form for him to have it done.

I was thinking about this before, and it seems wrong on so many levels.

Presumably DH would not have to sign consent for me to have, for example, the implant, or even female sterilisation. It is his body, why should I get a say in what he does with it? (apart from obviously in the same way we discussed me going on the pill/ us using condoms etc)

Also, I dislike the assumption that it would be the man sneaking off to get the vasectomy because obviously all women are baby mad.

Or am I over thinking this?

It's probably because so many Mackems putting in claims!!

Yes - we are north of the river!

Sorry, I need to know what the heck is/are "mackems"?

Mackem is just slang for people from Sunderland in the way that geordies are people from Newcastle.

"I didn't have to sign when DH had his. There was no counselling for either of us. This was about a year ago"
Same with us. DH had his done about 5 years ago.

Thanks Claire

I will sleep tonight.

NHS showed zero interest in my opinion when DH got his a year or so ago. And I wouldn't expect it any other way. His body, his decision.

I had to sign 2 1/2 years ago, North Staffs nhs trust.

dh had his done at marie stopes clinic a year ago, didn't ask for my consent and as far as he said the 'counselling' was no more than 'are you sure?' (then again he's 41 and has 3 kids). I can't see how legally they can ask for consent from anybody other than the person undergoing the procedure? Maybe it's just another of those bizarre NHS moments where they have a procedure in place and like to pretend it's a necessity rather than simply a policy.

DH had his operation about 5 years ago. I don't remember having to sign consent, but I do remember the 'counselling,' which, as I recall, seemed to be mainly focused on the possibility that I could die and DH might want to go off and start a new family with a younger woman .

I We discounted that eventuality pretty swiftly .

DH didn't have to sign any consent when I was sterilised. He never came to any appointments with me either. I'd have been very annoyed if he'd had to have given his permission.

Are you sure it's a consent form and not a waiver? Doctors can sometimes be liable in certain circumstances if a vasectomy patient gets their long-term partner pregnant, and in those cases the duty is owed to the partner, not the man, so it would be you who would be able to sue. I'm not sure whether it's possible to waive such liability.

Though if not, I really have no idea why he would need your consent. There is definitely no legal requirement for anyone else's consent for a competent adult patient to undergo medical treatment.

I was invited to sign when dh had his about 18 months ago, we're in Norfolk. I have a vague memory it was to say that I agreed to it rather than give consent, I assumed it was to prevent future legal claims or something, I dunno. I didn't think it was compulsory though.

In any half decent relationship a man would not off and get sterilised without his wife's agreement.

My poor aunt was married for years and years trying for a baby when her cock of her husband had had a vascetomy behind her back. Sadly when she found out she was too old to have children with another man.

It is not just the man's fertility which is being ended. I think the wife has a right to know if her husband has had a vascemtomy, but I don't think that she shoud be signing a concent form such.

The wording was "I am aware that this procedure ends my partners ability to father children, and of the risks of reversal and side effects, and I consent to the procedure"

The councilling was the doctor asking us how old we both are, how long we have been married, how old our children are, what gender they are, whether we are both in good health and if we have read up on the procedure. Very odd.

He went in to the operation room by himself, but I had to go in after as he was feeling a bit off, and he is upstairs playing computer games and feeling sorry for himself now. I am really pleased though - getting pregnant again is one of my biggest fears.

Surely these days, if you were trying for a baby for ages and none happened, you would both get tested, and at that point it would come out about the vascetomy anyway? And before that we are just in the same area as women who take the pill without telling thier partner. - ie not good for the realtionship, but no-one is about to suggest getting a husband's consent for the pill.

The pill is not quite so final as sterlisation. Its not the same.

I think its reasonable for the nhs to want the wife's concent. In most countries you have to pay to the op. The nhs does not want its money wasted when people ask for a reversal of a vacetomy.

very weird.. gives me the chills. In some countries (like Japan!) when a woman has a c-section they often has the HUSBAND if he would like her to be sterilized while she is on the operating table. The husband can override the woman!
Obviously this is not as bad as that but it still doesn't sit right with me. At all.

The NHS doesn't do vasectomy reversals. In fact, it was made very clear to us that they rarely work anyway.

Sakura

Another reason any future dc will be born here in the UK (not that my dh would ever do it).

I didn't have to sign or go to counselling although dh had to wait until ds was 6 months old. Also North Staffs.

North Staffs NHS are bonkers & incompetent: Official.