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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
I’m assuming the above person, like me, had one of those “come on, no WAY” moments. It just seems to insanely wrong.
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.
well into the 70s
The last Canadian “residential school” closed in 1996
https://www2.uregina.ca/education/saskindianresidentialschools/gordons-indian-residential-school/
Trying to end forced sterilization? Why has it not ended already?
Because the Canadian federal government is just three resource companies in a trench coat.
Shocking. Same level of the Boys of St Vincent and it seems it still hasn’t changed all these years later. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boys_of_St._Vincent
Check out Starlight Tours, and that the last Residential School was closed in 1996.
Canadians also coined both the term Final Solution (“_to the Indian Question _”) and gave the Nazis ideas on how to achieve such a thing.
(I am Canadian and I think it’s important the world sees us for our flaws as well as our strengths).
A true patriot of your nation. Accepting the good and bad of your country and showing the bad parts with light is good for a country. I do the same for the US. I will always bring in the bad and good of the US. No reason to hide it but instead to learn from it.
The process of loving an institution or a country or an idea is fundamentally different from the process of loving a person.
To love a person is to accept them on every level of their being.
To love an institution is to be its harshest critic, in the hopes that we can better direct the strokes from our hammer and our chisel to reveal the sculpture within. Nobody has ever created anything beautiful by loudly claiming their block of marble is better than the rest.
Yeah people act like America soaked the continent in blood and Canada just showed up friendly like. Like no, Ontario could’ve easily been one of the founding colonies in the US. There is no nation in the western hemisphere that’s existence is not in some way the result of violent colonialism. And where the majority of citizens don’t have significant native heritage that colonialism included significant attempts to exterminate the people who were already here.
We can be better. But if we pretend that the way our countries treat our indigenous population is anything other than what it is, then we’re going to really struggle to improve.
I agree with everything you say here, but I’m curious why you don’t think it applies to most of the eastern hemisphere, as well. This isn’t unique behavior for some small region or point in time.
Canada WTF
I know the word nazi gets thrown around a lot these days but this is some actual nazi type shit trying to stamp out an entire race. WTF indeed.
But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they would not be investigating Kotaska, because the woman hasn’t filed a criminal complaint.
Thats the most insane thing I have read this week. What, so they don’t investigate murders because the victim didnt file a complaint either??
Right. From the article:
Lisa Kelly, who teaches criminal law at Queen’s University in Ontario, said there is no requirement in Canada’s legal system for a victim to participate, if there is other compelling evidence.
“In this case, there is another doctor and nurse, and possibly others, who could provide credible and reliable evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the patient had not consented to the sterilization,” Kelly said.
While police and prosecutors have discretion, Kelly said, they "do not have the discretion to simply turn a blind eye to what appears to be evidence of a serious aggravated assault.”
