Is it wrong to perform a vasectomy as a doctor?

[FutureDoc]

Hello All,

I’m currently a medical student deciding what specialty to pursue, and I’m very interested in the field of Urology. It’s an incredible field and a lot of good can be done as a urologist, both here in the US and abroad in under-served nations. However I’m worried that my training, liscensure, and eventual practice will require me to perform vasectomies occasionally.

Would I be sinning by performing a vasectomy? If so, does this mean that the field of Urology is incompatible with moral Christian living?

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

 

[Vico]

**CCC 2297

***Kidnapping *and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong.

*Terrorism *threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity. *

Torture *which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity.

Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and *sterilizations *performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.

CCC 2370

Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.158 These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil:159

CCC 1868

Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:

• by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
• by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
• by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
• by protecting evil-doers.

 

[Rence]

Hello All,

I’m currently a medical student deciding what specialty to pursue, and I’m very interested in the field of Urology. It’s an incredible field and a lot of good can be done as a urologist, both here in the US and abroad in under-served nations. However I’m worried that my training, liscensure, and eventual practice will require me to perform vasectomies occasionally.

Would I be sinning by performing a vasectomy? If so, does this mean that the field of Urology is incompatible with moral Christian living?

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

Yes, you would be sinning by performing a vasectomy because the Church forbids vasectomies. The field of Urology is not incompatible with moral Christian living. I don’t know of any urologist who is required to perform vasectomies. I do know that the urologists who did perform them did them in a secular hospital located about five minutes away from one of the Catholic hospitals I used to work at. They didn’t do them in the Catholic hospital. They had privelidges in both hospitals and simply did them in the secular hospital instead. So if you’re worried, you can always work in a Catholic hospital that does not offer them. Though, because it is not an emergency procedure, I can’t see how a doctor would be forced to perform one.

 

[FutureDoc]

Though, because it is not an emergency procedure, I can’t see how a doctor would be forced to perform one.

You would need to be competent in the procedure to be licensed as a urologist, which would require you to have “logged” or performed a certain number of cases before you graduate residency. In that sense, you’re forced to do the procedure in your training.

 

[Ron_Conte]

A Catholic medical school and a Catholic hospital should not require anyone to perform any type of direct sterilizations. Perhaps you need to complete your training where this evil is not required. Otherwise, you would not be able to enter that field of medicine, if it requires you to commit intrinsically evil and gravely immoral acts.

 

[Bookcat]

**CCC 2297

***Kidnapping *and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong.

*Terrorism *threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity. *

Torture *which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity.

Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and *sterilizations *performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.

CCC 2370

Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.158 These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil:159

CCC 1868

Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:

• by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
• by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
• by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
• by protecting evil-doers.

 

[Rence]

You would need to be competent in the procedure to be licensed as a urologist, which would require you to have “logged” or performed a certain number of cases before you graduate residency. In that sense, you’re forced to do the procedure in your training.

Are you sure about that? You would be forced to perform vasectomies, as opposed to observe someone else doing the procedure?

There are many requirements of both medical and nursing student. And we are both required to be ‘checked off’ on certain skills. But not every opportunity presents itself while one is in school. In addition, sometimes the first time an opportunity presents itself, you have to observe the first one. The more important ones are required. Also keep in mind that there are many Catholic urologists. They had to get there somehow. I’d research this, and talk to a good priest about the findings if performing a vasectomy was truly a requirment. If you can’t get through the program because you find certain aspects of it undersireable, you may be forced to choose another specialty.

 

[KCT]

There are pro-life OB/Gyn’s who provide all the care women need, but who do not perform abortions or prescribe artificial birth control.

Why couldn’t a urologist refrain from performing vasectomies?