569
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

The Canadian government says it is urgently trying to end the forced sterilization of Indigenous women, describing the practice as a human rights violation and a prosecutable offense. Yet police say they will not pursue a criminal investigation into a recent case in which a doctor apologized for his “unprofessional conduct” in sterilizing an Inuit woman.

In July, The Associated Press reported on the case of an Inuit woman in Yellowknife who had surgery in 2019 aimed at relieving her abdominal pain. The obstetrician-gynecologist, Dr. Andrew Kotaska, did not have the woman’s consent to sterilize her, and he did so over the objections of other medical personnel in the operating room. She is now suing him.

“This is a pivotal case for Canada because it shows that forced sterilization is still happening,” said Dr. Unjali Malhotra, of the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia. “It’s time that it be treated as a crime.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 131 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't want to be controversial here, but if someone is forcibly destroying the internal organs of someone else without their knowledge or consent then maybe we should, and again I don't wanna overstep my bounds on this nuanced and multifaceted issue here but my instinct is that maybe we should, I don't know, maybe make them stop doing that. If that makes me a "no secretly wrecking someone else's innards" extremist then I guess I'll have to live with that.

[-] kameecoding@lemmy.world 58 points 1 year ago

woah dude, as a centrist this is why I vote far right, you woke leftists are taking things too far.

[-] Lt_Cdr_Data@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 year ago

I mean, what's the context here? I doubt doctors are sterilizing people because of some evil agenda. If she was already undergoing explorative abdominal surgery, I'd wager they found a pathology that requires her reproductive organs to be removed.

If they didn't get her consent during the preoperative information, then that's malpractice and a part I don't understand. However, I'd assume the surgeons wanted to spare her from having to undergo sedation and surgery again at a later point in time, just to get her consent.

[-] Buffaloaf@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago

The obstetrician-gynecologist, Dr. Andrew Kotaska, did not have the woman’s consent to sterilize her, and he did so over the objections of other medical personnel in the operating room.

So, no. There wasn't consent and the other doctors said it was a bad idea, but he did it anyway.

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 46 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Something isn't right here.

Among its findings, the board noted that it was likely the patient did say she did not intend to have more children, however, there was no written evidence that she had consented to sterilization.

The board also heard testimony from an anesthesiologist who was present during the surgery, and who reported Kotaska making the comment: "Let's see if I can find a reason to take the left tube."

Kotaska admitted to making the comment, describing it as part of his clinical reasoning. The board found the comment was not made "maliciously" and did not represent unprofessional conduct.

The complaint also alleged that Kotaska ignored comments from colleagues present during the surgery. The board found inconsistent evidence on this point, and found that this, too, was not unprofessional conduct.

And I appreciate your optimism about doctors but this isn't an isolated incident.

[-] WHYAREWEALLCAPS@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago

I’d assume the surgeons wanted to spare her from having to undergo sedation and surgery again at a later point in time, just to get her consent.

That is still performing the procedure without her consent. Are you really that dense? Or are you one of those types who believes that "no" doesn't always mean "no" or that if someone doesn't say "no" that means they automatically consent?

[-] batmaniam@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I'm assuming the above person, like me, had one of those "come on, no WAY" moments. It just seems to insanely wrong.

[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Thing is, some people have weaponized that "come on, no WAY" moment. They say "there must be some missing context that makes this okay" and then they dismiss the issue without having established that context. My mother did that with Elijah McClain's murder. When she found out that they injected him with ketamine, she said "Well something must have been going wrong, they don't give people that kind of drug for nothing". For her, that settled the matter. It wasn't until I taught her about so-called "excited delirium" and how cops and EMTs have conspired to make non-compliance a medical diagnosis so that they have an excuse to tranquilize people who piss them off that she even considered that someone may have done something wrong.

Furthermore, it was wildly irresponsible of dude to try to guess what that context was. "He didn't want to go through the process of waking her up, getting consent and then anaesthetizing her again so he just ripped out a few extra organs while he was in there." Trying to establish the idea that it's okay to ruin someone's body for the sake of convenience is just unimaginably gross. Assuming what they said was actually the truth and not just their conjecture in trying to justify this, that behavior in and of itself justifies prison and a loss of license to practice medicine. This situation is so fucked up that the extra context that had to be posited from nothing doesn't actually absolve anyone of guilt.

[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Did you even read the post? The context is he didn't have consent and other medical professionals in the room told him not to do it.

[-] EurekaStockade@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

I doubt

I'd wager

I'd assume

You have a news article linked here which clearly spells out an example of this happening yet you still lean on assumptions that it couldn't possibly happen

[-] 5BC2E7@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Afaik some countries treat female urinary infections with what they call female circumcision. here it’s called genital mutilation (at least when the victim is female)

This is why I don’t assume they had an actual medical reason to sterilize her.

[-] Historical_General@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Canada had paedophile and state-run genocide camps masquerading as schools for Indiginous children well into the 70s!!! This is clearly an extension of that mindset. The Canadian government is sick.

[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
569 points (100.0% liked)

World News

39046 readers
2092 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS