From the (UK) Sunday Times:

Doctors in Essex have accepted the request of a mother to perform a hysterectomy on her 15-year-old daughter, and have requested legal approval to carry out the controversial surgery.

Alison Thorpe has requested the surgery for her daughter Katie, who has cerebral palsy.

Thorpe, 45, believes that for Katie the physical changes that accompany adolescence will bring only distress, with none of the rewards other girls can expect from growing up.

Knowing she has no prospect of having a child, Thorpe has asked surgeons to remove her daughter’s womb, sparing her the discomfort and inconvenience of menstruation.

… “Katie has an undignified enough life without the added indignity of menstruation,” Thorpe said.

Thorpe’s request for surgery mirrors the case of a nine-year-old American girl known as “Ashley X” or “Pillow Angel,” whose uterus and breast buds were removed at the request of her parents. Disability advocates maintained that the surgery was inhumane, and argued for more support for people with disabilities and their families.

Other versions of the story are here and here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 6th, 2007 at 7:48 pm and is filed under ethics, medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post