Doctors’ archaic attitudes over sterilisation | Letter

A reader recalls her experience of trying to obtain a vasectomy for her husband on the NHS in the 1990s

Reading this article (Woman denied permanent birth control on NHS wins case with ombudsman, 1 May) reminded me of my husband’s and my experience of trying to obtain sterilisation on the NHS in the 1990s. At the time we were in our 30s and neither of us wanted to have children.

Rather than for me to continue taking the pill, we decided that the best option for us was for my husband to have a vasectomy. At the hospital consultation, I was flabbergasted when the doctor said that he was not going to approve the procedure on the grounds that at some time in the future my husband could leave me and want to have children with another woman.