COERCIVE CARE For decades, physicians have steered sickle cell patients toward sterilization BY ERIC BOODMAN

https://www.statnews.com/coercive-care-sickle-cell-disease/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-86wKJCPVuxVWkOAyX_Ht06w4eR9VhXCVNmu-dqc0v1OBmXRoUn5cBgDR92Tiwv-5N_AkPzrQ1LS7Ff10LkHQihe7ddRA&_hsmi=312000659&utm_content=312000659&utm_source=hs_email Since the late 1970s, a federal rule has required any patient on Medicare or Medicaid to sign a consent form at least 30 days before a tubal ligation or vasectomy. The idea is to give people time to make a careful, fully-informed decision. It’s necessary protection — a previous investigation by STAT’s Eric Boodman found that, for decades, some women with sickle cell disease have felt pressured into getting sterilizations they didn’t want or didn’t fully understand. But for some people, the waiting period can do more harm than good. For example: If you’re hoping for a tubal ligation during your C-section, but don’t know to ask for it far enough in advance, you might be out of luck. Or simply: A misplaced piece of paper could lead to, in the most extreme scenario, an unwanted pregnancy. Now, 45 years after the rules came into effect, the federal government is quietly considering shortening the waiting period and clarifying the form. Read the latest story in Eric Boodman’s Coercive Care series, which asks the daunting ethical question of how to ensure true consent for a medical procedure as weighty as sterilization. How doctors are pressuring sickle cell patients into unwanted sterilizations Eric Boodman By Eric Boodman https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/21/sickle-cell-patients-steered-toward-sterilization-for-decades/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9ElKxDos1tG3FI41LfzWknsSpqxZ3uzjhcdtOG4vaJwu_pYR1ux5-G20ryYaorW3EVKYt1gj5ma1nPismlaQc0lbDKYw&_hsmi=312000659&utm_content=312000659&utm_source=hs_email This federal rule didn’t stop coercive sterilization — but it blocked contraceptive access. Can it be fixed? Eric Boodman By Eric Boodman https://www.statnews.com/2024/06/18/sterilization-hhs-rule-did-not-stop-coercion-blocked-access/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_ofmSkZbXKPQJVtofJ-Hed3XdGkQyvOlYhjxS_99cXPPLYqHJtcueXqyV0dd7tzWgs24nMWcTpXzSVyFIsB-5OCUTRtw&_hsmi=312000659&utm_content=312000659&utm_source=hs_email June 18, 2024