James you need to go back and study the law regarding medical treatment in this country. You NEVER have the final say, your doctor does, all you are alowed to do in Australia is REFUSE concent. You can jump up and down all you want but if your doctor says no then your not having it and most doctors are reluctent to do a vectectomy without the partners agreement wether its formalised or not.Asguard:
Well, let me ask you. Would you be happy to let somebody else have the final say in any medical treatment or procedure that you may want to have?
Sorry, but I usually don't answer these kinds of personal questions in the public forums. My private life is private.
Then you will have to excuse me if i Assume your single with no children. Most relationships will not survive this kind of decision being made by one partner alone. As someone who has just gone through his partner having a misscarrage I can garentiee that there is no way i would still be with my partner if she had come home and said "honey i just had an abortion, I decided we aren't having this kid" and before you say anything relationships effect mental health and mental health is just as valid a medical concern as physical health is
I don't recall claiming that most abortion are young girls who have been raped etc.[/QUOTE]
Never said you did, dont be so paranoid. I couldn't find the post when i was on my phone
Jeeves stated
(or, in many cases, very young girl, who was perhaps forced into sex)
Firstly this goes back to a patriarcal steriotype that women dont want sex and secondly its simply factually incorect. Most abortions aren't young girls who have been raped its married middle aged couples who have either had as many children as they want OR the fetus has a disability that the couple belives will be a detriment to either the baby's or there own quality of life
Nor did I claim that in cases such as the ones you mention the mother is affected more than the father.
Then for the mental health of BOTH parties don't you think its better for the doctor to ensure both agree before carrying out the procidure. look at it a different way for a min, what do you think your mental health would be like if you have found out your baby which you and your partner want more than everything has down syndrome and your partners responce is "its your decision, if you want to kill it thats your choice, its not my responcibility" and therefore that decision of life or death is ALL on you with your partner compleatly passive (thats not even looking at a situation where your partner is openly against the idea). How do you think your going to feel?
You really should have read the whole thread before assuming i was talking about you, makes you look naracisticIf you want my opinions on such things, ask. Don't assume.
What I want to know from you is: why do you think anybody other than the person concerned ought to have final say over that person's medical treatment?
As i have said previously they do, all you can do is say no and only in certain cirumstances. A couple of years ago my grandfather died and mum was telling me about the end of life decisions. He was lucid from what i know but just quite ill. It was still my grandmother who was the one who signed the not for ressuc order on his chart, not my grandfather and she did it without his knowlage because she would have been horified to think he belived she didn't want him anymore. Both of them sepratly talked about it with my parents and both of them were in agreeance with the decision but at the end of the day it was nan not pop who signed the paperwork.
If everyone took a passive aproch to there partners health then there would be a lot of dead men from heart atacks because without there partner nagging them to get seen to a lot of men wouldnt do anything about it.
and as i said above a lot of doctors wont (or will be very relectant to) perform a vecetomy if your partner isn't in agreement and at the end of the day the only person who has the right to say yes to a treatment under Australian law is the doctor performing it. Everyone else only has a right to say no. Dont belive me try it yourself. Next time you have a cold go to a compitant GP and demand a script for antibotics. If the GP is any good no matter how insistant you are you wont get them.
Another example which you may not realise, under SA law (and possibly other states) if you let your partner die you can be charged with manslaughter and "she refused concent" wont be a defense. So lets say you come home from work to find your wife has cut her wrists and she tells you not to touch her. If you dont aply basic first aid and call the ambulance your guilty of causing her death IN SPITE of the fact she is refusing medical consent. You actually have the same duty of care for a spouse as an employer has for an employee and as you do as a parent over your child
So as you can see there are lots of examples where the situation is a lot more complicated than "its my body and i will do what i want with it"
specifically on me, am i comfertable with my partner making medical decisions for me? of course i am, i gave her medical power of attorney for a reason, I chose her as my partner for a reason. am i comfertable in her signing off on me having a vecetomy, yep, no problem what so ever, doesnt worry me in the slightest.
I find it strange how easerly you seem to dismiss the word "partner" or rather its implications. Its obvious in this comment:
You think men should have control over women's reproductive systems?
Its almost like you have no idea what a relationship is. Every part of my life affects PB and every part of hers affects me, when i went back to uni you think it was my decision? Of course not it was both of ours. You think if she quit her job it would be her decision? again no, it would be a joint decision about what best works for both of us. You think trying for kids was her decision alone? You think if i had cancer wether or not to cese treatment would be my decision alone? If you do then either a) you have never been in a relationship and you have my sympathy or b) you have never been in a GOOD relationship and you still have my sympathy.