7 July to 14 July

Should disabled teenagers be given a hysterectomy?

Last November Fairbairn and Rowley discussed how 'Beth', a teenager with learning disabilities, behaved after a hysterectomy performed to spare her the 'messy bother of menstruation'. They asked whether it can be ethically right for a person's parent or guardian to make such a decision on her behalf, and related Beth's story to that of Katie Thorpe, a girl with cerebral palsy, which more recently stirred controversy in the British press. Her mother, believing that Katie would not be able to cope emotionally with menstruation, wanted her to have a hysterectomy. Opponents argued that giving Katie a hysterectomy would challenge the fundamental rights of people with disabilities. Scope, a charity for disabled people, argued that doing so could have 'disturbing' effects for other children with disabilities. Katie's mother lost the argument.

Alison Thorpe looks after her daughter 24 hours a day. But should that give her the right to make this decision? We know it would have made her life significantly easier, but we don't know the effects it would have had on Katie. Most importantly, if the courts had given the 'go-ahead' for the hysterectomy, then surely it would have opened the floodgates for others to do the same?

Lucy Reynolds is a PhD student in the School of Applied Global Ethics. She is undertaking research on the representation of disability and of disabled people in the British press.