BENGALURU: In a rare case, the Karnataka High Court allowed the parents of a 23-year-old woman to get her uterus removed in a procedure to be performed at Vani Vilas Hospital in the city, as she suffers from severe developmental and intellectual disabilities which impair her ability to understand, manage and perform even basic activities of daily living.
“Having regard to the findings recorded by the Medical Board, the nature and extent of the patient’s intellectual and developmental disabilities, her inability to independently manage menstrual hygiene, the recurring medical complications highlighted by the petitioners, the absence of any medical contraindication and the unanimous recommendation of the Medical Board, this court is satisfied that the proposed procedure is intended to advance the welfare, health, dignity and best interests of the patient,” the court said. Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order on a petition filed by the parents, who hail from a village in Yelahanka taluk.
“This court also finds it relevant that the present case does not concern sterilisation for eugenic purposes, population control measures or any attempt to curtail the rights of the patient on account of her disability. The recommendation is founded entirely upon considerations relating to health, hygiene, dignity, safety and quality of life,” said the court.
It directed the medical superintendent of Vani Vilas Hospital to make all arrangements for the total abdominal hysterectomy as recommended by the Medical Board constituted by it.
The court also stated that the medical superintendent should ensure welfare, dignity, safety and best interests of the patient are protected at all stages of treatment and provide pre-operative counselling, care and rehabilitation services.
The medical board had recommended that the patient may undergo the total hysterectomy after considering the opinions furnished by all specialists.
The medical board concluded that the patient is suffering from Global Developmental Delay associated with Moderate Permanent Intellectual and Developmental Disability, assessing her social age at approximately 5 years and 4 months, her IQ at 36 and her permanent disability at 75%. The woman also suffers from seizures, the panel concluded.
Petitioners plead they are her sole caregivers
The petitioners submitted that the menstrual cycles of their daughter are irregular and unpredictable and her inability to maintain personal hygiene during such periods has resulted in recurring infections, intermittent episodes of fever and prolonged medical complications. According to them, the situation not only exposed her to repeated health risks but also imposed considerable physical, emotional and psychological strain upon the petitioners who are advancing in age and continue to remain her sole caregivers.
The petitioners relied upon the medical and psychological assessments conducted on their daughter at Neuro Centre, Bengaluru. The evaluation records indicate significant developmental and social adaptive deficits. The Denver Developmental Screening Test revealed a developmental quotient of 58, indicative of developmental delay.
The assessment of her drawing abilities through Gesell’s Drawing Test demonstrated functioning considerably below the developmental level ordinarily expected of a three-year-old child. The Vineland Social Maturity Scale assessed her social quotient at 56, suggesting substantial deficits in social adaptive functioning. The cumulative effect of these assessments is that though she is chronologically 23 years of age, her cognitive, developmental and adaptive functioning remains severely compromised, according to the petitioners.