Vasectomy- must prove I am not married!

Yeah, I can almost certainly guarantee me and Snadman weren’t on that job.
I’m pretty sure I’d remember.[/quote]
Speak for yourself laddie, Sandman does a lot of jobs you don’t know about.

My wife will vouch for you.

Or, she will do the deed in quick time with my Gerber Mk II…just bite the leather and it will be over before you can scream.
Need those gift wrapped?

My wife needed her permission before I got mine. It was pretty simple, she turned up for the surgery and said hi to the surgeon. The procedure itself was worse, however then it was a joint decision anyways.

Ah!!! Maybe if you have a TW wife/spouse…the rules are different. :blush: Slow me.

I would not know, however again, I doubt they would have done it if my missus had not signed off the documents. At least I think she signed off on something, I was too focused on the thought of having a doctor fondling the wedding tackle to notice that.

The funniest thing was when I asked for the appointment:

Bignose entering office, the doctor asking me what’s wrong.

Me: “Nothing, actually”

Doc: “Well, why are you here?”

Me: “I want a vasectomy”

Doc: “Have you thought it through? It can’t be reversed.”

Me: “Yes, and I know that it’s irreversible”.

Doc: “Are you married?”

Me:“Yes”.

Doc: “Does your wife agree to the vasectomy?”

Me: “Yes”.

Doc: “Do you have children?”

Me: “Yes”.

Doc: “Boys or girls?”

Me:“A bit of both actually, I have four you see, so I think it’s time”.

I then asked for the first slot, he gave me one next morning, and asked me to bring my wife if possible, if not I would have to take some docs for her to sign, and bring her ID. I then called her in front of the doc and asked her to take next morning off for the vasectomy and bring her ID, which she readily agreed to.

Can I ask a few questions? Mods please move this if you see fit.

  1. Where did you get it done?
  2. How much did it cost?
  3. Is it an outpatient appointment or do you have to stay overnight?

Thanks

Go ahead:

  1. Lishin hospital in Zhongli. I would recommend a bigger one.
  2. NT$3500k-NT$4k or so, forgot.
  3. In and out in one hour.

No valium before surgery to take the nerves, piss poor anestetics, I would take a bigger place.

The surgery works, and after roughly 2 weeks of discomfort have not felt anything abnormal since. I regret choice of hospital, but not the procedure, which has taken off a good many worries about pregnancy.

Thanks Mr He

That’s funny–my husband also got his done at Adventist and he DID have to get my permission. (I had to sign some paperwork.) Maybe it’s just up to the discretion of the doctor to enforce the policy?

I went to the national taipei hospital and asked a urologist about a vasectomy. They said it was impossible if you weren’t married…and you’d need your wife’s permission if you were married. The doctor was very dismissive and somewhat annoyed that I came to ask him…Anyone know any doctors who can do this?

Quite a few, most urologists would. I had no problems, however married with 4 kids… You are not likely to regret later.

I don’t get the concept of needing a spouse’s permission to have treatment at all. Can someone explain it to me?

My wife is going to have her UID taken out as its causing discomfort. She needs my permission and signature. What’s wrong with that? Why does she need my permission to cease her discomfort? Why would I need her permission to have a vasectomy? I’m simply not her property am I?
If I don’t need permission for a haircut or a tatoo, then why would I need one for anything else? I even needed her permission to have my killer wisdom teeth taken out.

Actually from what I understand the whole reason has nothing to do with a person’s right to one body or whatever. It’s not the same context as we would view it in the United States.

This isn’t simply a matter of the husband and wife being seen as a couple. It isn’t just that you need your wife/husband’s permission… If you are unmarried, you simply cannot legally get a permanent birth control!
I may be totally wrong (always assume I am), but it seems to me that the reason for it has to do with a perception of declining birth rate. That is, there is already a perceived slowdown of population growth and hence a fear of an aging population. What would the solutions be according to this premise?
Stop abortion. Stop vasectomies. Other options would also be to make the government provide financial security for new mothers. Polls say that the main reason women don’t want to have babies is because of the economic burden and uncertainty about providing for one.
I’m sure there’s also a societal and cultural component that says that getting any sort of permanent birth control is wrong. “Someday you may want kids”. Some people are against birth control just on the pure premise that it goes against god’s plan. And perhaps some people think that you shouldn’t mess around with the human body, that it may cause damage.
In short there are a lot of reasons and I don’t think there’s enough of a push for individual body rights to unmake such a law…

You have to pay for a vasectomy here, and it’s not cheap.

If they want more babies, they have to:

  1. Give more than 60 days in maternity leave, I would suggest 180 days or more, and with safeguards in place regarding dismissal in that period.
  2. Affordable child care - a nanny costs me NT$20k, and well until recently I was spending more than the average salary here having my kids educated and looked after.
  3. Affordable education, preferably free or close to.
  4. Other support forms such as mother’s entitlements to leave on the child’s first sick day, with no penalties possible from the employer.

Most employers here are against all this, however it’s shortsighted. Taiwan is heading toward a demographic crunch, and it will not be pretty, they should really do something to get the birth rate up, or the economy here will tank on a prolonged basis going forward a decade or 2.

[quote=“aahz”]Actually from what I understand the whole reason has nothing to do with a person’s right to one body or whatever. It’s not the same context as we would view it in the United States.

This isn’t simply a matter of the husband and wife being seen as a couple. It isn’t just that you need your wife/husband’s permission… If you are unmarried, you simply cannot legally get a permanent birth control!
I may be totally wrong (always assume I am), but it seems to me that the reason for it has to do with a perception of declining birth rate. That is, there is already a perceived slowdown of population growth and hence a fear of an aging population. What would the solutions be according to this premise?
Stop abortion. Stop vasectomies. Other options would also be to make the government provide financial security for new mothers. Polls say that the main reason women don’t want to have babies is because of the economic burden and uncertainty about providing for one.
I’m sure there’s also a societal and cultural component that says that getting any sort of permanent birth control is wrong. “Someday you may want kids”. Some people are against birth control just on the pure premise that it goes against god’s plan. And perhaps some people think that you shouldn’t mess around with the human body, that it may cause damage.
In short there are a lot of reasons and I don’t think there’s enough of a push for individual body rights to unmake such a law…[/quote]

As you yourself state it, the problem is economic. People can’t afford babies. Taiwan is ageing faster than Japan, and it will be an extremely old society in less than 20 years. I am absolutely fascinated by the fact that men here are the ones who step to the plate to get “fixed”, and I have even heard from their own mouths that “it is cheaper, easier and less painful than if it was my wife”. For me, coming from a troglodite chauvinist society, that is mindblowing in a good way. Awesome for people to take responsibility for their actions, control over their body and destinies. Even abortion can be a harsh decision, but at least they made the choice, good or bad. They did not “let it be”. It is not the easy way out.

It is a bit of a throwback to have to ask permission, I agree. It might be to avoid legal problems such as being sued by a wife/husband who disagrees with the decision. But it is rather antiquated, and probably will be gone soon.

Me, coming from a place where even medical abortion is illegal, and contraception is frowned upon, so people reproduce like rabbits, find it really ironic, as crime rates, family violence and domestic violence/murders have just gone through the roof, and the root is found in miserable homes, not in money, but in “following god’s plan”. A lot of this could be avoided -as it is here in Taiwan- if contraception at least, not to say abortion, would be accepted.