Biomaterial Database

[Tubal sterilization in mentally handicapped women]. 2001

P Barjot, and C Hervé

Service de Gynécologie-Obstétrique, CHU de Caen, Laboratoire d'éthique médicale et de santé publique, Faculté de Médacine de Necker-Enfants Malades, 156 rue de Vaugirard, F75730 Paris. barjot-p@chu-caen.fr

METHODS When performed for contraception purposes, tubular sterilization for mentally handicapped women poses important ethical issues, including patient's rights, body integrity, and the notion of informed consent. French law guarantees the respect and safety of all patients, but in everyday practice, patient's rights must be upheld by family and healthcare workers searching for the most adapted solutions for each individual situation. We present here our proposals for everyday practice. Our conclusions are based on an analysis of the notion of handicap as defined by the WHO and on the observed sexual activities of this type of patient. In this context, informed consent involves a number of subjective factors pointing out the difficulty encountered in providing dear comprehensible information. Finally we discuss the ethical issue of tubular sterilization which many consider to be a masked form of eugenism.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007258	Informed Consent	Voluntary authorization, by a patient or research subject, with full comprehension of the risks involved, for diagnostic or investigative procedures, and for medical and surgical treatment.	Consent, Informed
D004992	Ethics, Medical	The principles of professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of the physician, relations with patients and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the physician in patient care and interpersonal relations with patient families.	Medical Ethics
D005053	Eugenics	The attempt to improve the PHENOTYPES of future generations of the human population by fostering the reproduction of those with favorable phenotypes and GENOTYPES and hampering or preventing BREEDING by those with "undesirable" phenotypes and genotypes. The concept is largely discredited. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)	Negative Eugenics,Positive Eugenics,Eugenics, Negative,Eugenics, Positive
D005260	Female		Females
D005602	France	A country in western Europe bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the Mediterranean Sea, and the countries of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the principalities of Andorra and Monaco, and by the duchy of Luxembourg. Its capital is Paris.	Corsica,Saint Pierre and Miquelon,Miquelon and Saint Pierre,Miquelon and St. Pierre,St. Pierre and Miquelon
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D013246	Sterilization, Tubal	Procedures that render the female sterile by interrupting the flow in the FALLOPIAN TUBE. These procedures generally are surgical, and may also use chemicals or physical means.	Ligation, Tubal,Tubal Ligation,Aldridge Procedure,Chemical Tubal Occlusion,Cooke Method,Cornual Coagulation,Fimbriectomy,Irving Method,Kroener Fimbriectomy,Kroener Method,Madlener Method,Nonchemical Tubal Occlusion,Occlusion, Chemical Tubal,Occlusion, Nonchemical Tubal,Pomeroy Method,Pomeroy Sterilization,Tubal Occlusion,Tubal Occlusion, Chemical,Tubal Occlusion, Nonchemical,Tubal Rings,Uchida Method,Chemical Tubal Occlusions,Coagulations, Cornual,Cornual Coagulations,Fimbriectomies,Fimbriectomy, Kroener,Ligations, Tubal,Nonchemical Tubal Occlusions,Ring, Tubal,Rings, Tubal,Sterilization, Pomeroy,Sterilizations, Tubal,Tubal Ligations,Tubal Occlusions,Tubal Occlusions, Chemical,Tubal Occlusions, Nonchemical,Tubal Ring,Tubal Sterilization,Tubal Sterilizations
D016743	Mental Competency	The ability to understand the nature and effect of the act in which the individual is engaged. (From Black's Law Dictionary, 6th ed).	Competency, Mental,Incompetency, Mental,Competence,Incompetence, Mental,Mental Competence,Competence, Mental,Mental Incompetence,Mental Incompetency
D019989	Persons with Mental Disabilities	Persons diagnosed as having significantly lower than average intelligence and considerable problems in adapting to everyday life or lacking independence in regard to activities of daily living.	Intellectually Disabled Persons,Mentally Disabled,Mentally Disabled Persons,Mentally Handicapped,Persons with Intellectual Disability,Mentally Retarded,Disabled Persons, Intellectually,Disabled, Mentally,Intellectually Disabled Person,Mentally Disabled Person,Person, Mentally Disabled,Persons, Intellectually Disabled,Persons, Mentally Disabled