Okla. Senate Hopeful Did Sterilizations

[Guest guest]

Only in our present day political climate could someone like this be

considered for a senate office instead of being sent to prison where

he belongs. He is only one of many.

 

America is very sick. F.

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4510903,00.html

 

Okla. Senate Hopeful Did Sterilizations

 

 

Friday September 24, 2004 2:16 AM

 

By RON JENKINS

 

Associated Press Writer

 

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Coburn, who

has been accused of sterilizing a young woman without her permission

14 years ago, now says he has performed similar procedures on ``lots''

of underage women.

 

In an interview this week on the Tulsa radio station KRMG, Coburn was

asked: ``To your knowledge, could this situation have happened, or has

happened with any other women?''

 

Coburn, a physician, replied: ``I've done this lots to women who have

come in with emergency things who have asked me to sterilize them,

underage. When they've already had three babies.''

 

Jay Parmley, state Democratic chairman, called Thursday on Coburn to

detail ``how many underage women he has sterilized.''

 

Coburn spokesman John Hart said the candidate would not answer

specific questions about how many medical procedures he has performed.

Hart called it a ``continuing smear campaign'' by Democrats.

 

Coburn and Democrat Brad Carson are locked in a tight Senate race for

the post Republican Don Nickles is leaving after 24 years. The race

could be pivotal in the battle for control of the Senate.

 

The campaign became even more divisive with the emergence of details

about the sterilization 14 years ago.

 

Coburn performed the procedure on the woman during an operation to

remove an ectopic pregnancy, a dangerous condition in which an embryo

was growing in her fallopian tube. He surgically removed the tube and

tied off her other fallopian tube, leaving her sterile.

 

The woman says she never consented to the procedure. He said he got

oral permission for the sterilization, but a nurse failed to get

written consent.

 

Coburn has said he intentionally did not report the sterilization on a

Medicaid reimbursement to ensure the woman would not have to pay for

the procedure. Coburn said his political foes are pushing the issue to

hurt his campaign even though the women's 1991 lawsuit over the matter

was dropped.

 

Parmley said Coburn's remarks about the other sterilizations raise

``serious questions'' about ``values and ethics,'' especially if

Medicaid funding was involved.