Abstract
With the increasing awareness of individual rights and the rise of advocacy groups for the handicapped, the rights of retarded persons are now being defined and secured, and abuses of the past curtailed.1 However, in efforts to secure the rights of the group, rights of individuals are sometimes abrogated. Sterilization for the profoundly retarded female presents an example of the legal inability to make a competent decision preventing specific individuals from securing a procedure done in her best interests. This commentary explores the current status of sterilization of retarded females, and presents the need for changes in the stance of advocacy groups and the legal system to permit hysterectomy for certain severely or profoundly retarded female adolescents when the procedure would improve the quality of life and care for that individual.
- Copyright © 1978 by the American Academy of Pediatrics
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