Woman alleges tubectomy sans consent at govt hospital in Odisha, complaint filed

A man on Tuesday filed a complaint at Keonjhar Town Police station alleging sterilisation of his wife without consent at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in Keonjhar.

As per reports, Sushant Kumar Barik had gone to the hospital after his wife Pabitrani Behera got into labour. However, following the c-section delivery, the doctor on duty allegedly sterilised his wife without his consent.

Complainant, Sushant Kumar Barik said, “The doctor performed a family planning procedure on my wife without our consent. Neither I nor my wife had ever asked him to do this.”

“When I confronted him (Doctor), he abused me and threatened not to discharge my wife and our baby. Later, I went to the police station to file a complaint against the doctor,” he said.

Sushant’s wife, Pabitrani Behera alleged, “The doctor performed caesarean section on me to deliver my baby. However, before taking me to the Operation Theatre (OT), the doctors took a signature from me on a paper. After the delivery, they asked my husband to sign on a paper. When he enquired about the contents of the paper, the doctor informed that a family planning surgery has been performed on me.”

“When my husband asked the doctor why did he perform a surgery without consent, he threatened my husband to detain me and my child in the hospital if he does not sign on the document,” she added.

However, the gynaecologist, Abhijit Mohapatra who operated on Pabitrani refuted the allegations and said that she had given her consent for sterilisation procedure following delivery.

“We conducted the sterilisation procedure only after her (Pabitrani) consent. But after the surgery when I asked her husband, who seemed to be drunk, to sign the declaration, he argued and abused me,” the doctor said.

SM Soren, the HOD of Gynaecology at the Keonjhar DHH said, “Consent is mandatory before every operation, be it minor or major operation. Consent for both the c-section and family planning has been taken from the patient in this case too. The allegations are baseless.”