Submission
AMA submission to the Inquiry into the Involuntary or Coerced Sterilisation of People with Disabilities in Australia
The submission advocates that sterilisation should only be performed for a competent patient after an informed choice is made and consent obtained. Where a patient is considered to permanently lack capacity to make a serious health care decision such as sterilisation, a substitute decision maker is required to provide consent.
Sterilisation should be considered an irreversible form of contraception; therefore, temporary and reversible methods such as oral or injected contraceptives should generally be considered first.
