Roma woman goes to UN claiming sterlisation without consent
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《英国医生杂志》
A Roma woman who alleges she was sterilised without her consent during an emergency procedure at a Hungarian hospital is taking her case to the United Nations.
Records show that the woman, then aged 28, who was undergoing labour pains and bleeding heavily, was taken by an emergency vehicle to Szatmár-Beregi Hospital in Fehérgyarmat in northeastern Hungary on 2 January 2001.
Examinations determined that the placenta had ruptured and that her unborn infant had died, said Dr András Kanyó, who, with other members of the hospital's emergency team, had been alerted by emergency medical personnel to the woman's imminent arrival.
"Following the ultrasound and a physical examination, I asked her about her family, and she said she had three children. I asked if she planned to have any more, and she said no," said Dr Kanyó, a gynaecologist, anaethesiologist, and intensive care specialist.
After the woman had signed a consent form that described the procedure and after the possible risks involved had been explained to her, Dr Kanyó performed a caesarean section to remove the dead infant and tied off the woman's fallopian tubes.
"The sterilisation had to be done in order that ensuing pregnancies would not put her life in danger. This was the only thing I could do. This was her second caesarean. It was strictly a professional decision," he said.
He noted that she had been in the hospital on 20 December for an examination and was supposed to return on 27 December, but "she never showed up."
The woman has since contended that she did not understand the consent form and that parts of it were illegible. With the help of the European Roma Rights Centre and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities, she took her complaint to court on 22 November 2002.
After the court rejected her claim on the grounds that she had given her consent for the surgery, she and her advocates appealed to a higher court. That court overturned the lower court's decision but ruled that the sterilisation was reversible, that she had experienced no lasting harm, and was not entitled to compensation.
"The main point to be made is that while the court did not dispute the facts of the case, it failed to provide a remedy because it did not understand the consent issue," said Branimir Plese, legal director of the European Roma Rights Centre.
The centre and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities are now taking the case to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, charging the Hungarian government with violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.(Budapest Carl Kovac and á)
Records show that the woman, then aged 28, who was undergoing labour pains and bleeding heavily, was taken by an emergency vehicle to Szatmár-Beregi Hospital in Fehérgyarmat in northeastern Hungary on 2 January 2001.
Examinations determined that the placenta had ruptured and that her unborn infant had died, said Dr András Kanyó, who, with other members of the hospital's emergency team, had been alerted by emergency medical personnel to the woman's imminent arrival.
"Following the ultrasound and a physical examination, I asked her about her family, and she said she had three children. I asked if she planned to have any more, and she said no," said Dr Kanyó, a gynaecologist, anaethesiologist, and intensive care specialist.
After the woman had signed a consent form that described the procedure and after the possible risks involved had been explained to her, Dr Kanyó performed a caesarean section to remove the dead infant and tied off the woman's fallopian tubes.
"The sterilisation had to be done in order that ensuing pregnancies would not put her life in danger. This was the only thing I could do. This was her second caesarean. It was strictly a professional decision," he said.
He noted that she had been in the hospital on 20 December for an examination and was supposed to return on 27 December, but "she never showed up."
The woman has since contended that she did not understand the consent form and that parts of it were illegible. With the help of the European Roma Rights Centre and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities, she took her complaint to court on 22 November 2002.
After the court rejected her claim on the grounds that she had given her consent for the surgery, she and her advocates appealed to a higher court. That court overturned the lower court's decision but ruled that the sterilisation was reversible, that she had experienced no lasting harm, and was not entitled to compensation.
"The main point to be made is that while the court did not dispute the facts of the case, it failed to provide a remedy because it did not understand the consent issue," said Branimir Plese, legal director of the European Roma Rights Centre.
The centre and the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities are now taking the case to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, charging the Hungarian government with violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.(Budapest Carl Kovac and á)