Disabled dad to be sterilised on High Court judge's orders as it's "in his best interests”
A High Court judge today ruled that a mentally disabled man should be given a vasectomy as it is “in his best interests”.
The 36-year-old father-of-one, known as DE, does not want another child but is incapable of consenting to sterilisation himself and cannot be relied upon to use contraception.
In the first ruling of its kind, Mrs Justice Eleanor King approved his local health trust’s bid to give him surgery to save him “psychological harm”.
She said: “I have reached the conclusion that a vasectomy is undoubtedly in DE’s best interests.”
The Court of Protection in London heard DE, from the Midlands, has a mental age of six to nine and lives with his parents.
But the judge heard he could not see his girlfriend without supervision in case she became pregnant again.
Mrs Justice King said these restrictions had “very serious consequences” for DE’s independence and the separation had caused him considerable distress.
DE’s son was born in 2010.
His girlfriend, who has less severe learning difficulties, lives with her mother, who is the child’s special guardian.
The birth had a “profound effect on both families” and the couple’s relationship “nearly broke under the strain”, the court heard.
But Mrs Justice King noted the pair “remarkably weathered the storm”.
Disabled charity Mencap welcomed the “balanced decision” but said it should not be seen as a “green light for other applications for sterilisation in respect of people with a learning disability”.
The 36-year-old father-of-one, known as DE, does not want another child but is incapable of consenting to sterilisation himself and cannot be relied upon to use contraception.
In the first ruling of its kind, Mrs Justice Eleanor King approved his local health trust’s bid to give him surgery to save him “psychological harm”.
She said: “I have reached the conclusion that a vasectomy is undoubtedly in DE’s best interests.”
The Court of Protection in London heard DE, from the Midlands, has a mental age of six to nine and lives with his parents.
But the judge heard he could not see his girlfriend without supervision in case she became pregnant again.
Mrs Justice King said these restrictions had “very serious consequences” for DE’s independence and the separation had caused him considerable distress.
DE’s son was born in 2010.
His girlfriend, who has less severe learning difficulties, lives with her mother, who is the child’s special guardian.
The birth had a “profound effect on both families” and the couple’s relationship “nearly broke under the strain”, the court heard.
But Mrs Justice King noted the pair “remarkably weathered the storm”.
Disabled charity Mencap welcomed the “balanced decision” but said it should not be seen as a “green light for other applications for sterilisation in respect of people with a learning disability”.
No comments:
Post a Comment