Courtesy: Eti Swinford. Dreamstime.

By Angela Kazmierczak

Local surgeon finds more men undergoing vasectomy procedure

May 11, 2023 | 5:17 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – More women have been vocal on social media about the side effects of taking birth control.

This has led to more push for men to share the responsibility in preventing pregnancies.

In Medicine Hat, a general surgeon finds that in the last few years, more men are undergoing vasectomies, a permanent birth control.

“Traditionally, it’s been sort of society’s feeling that women should be responsible for – and this is wrong obviously that women should be responsible for this (tubal ligation) as a means of permanent birth control,” said Dr. Ron Witzke, a general surgeon.

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Dr. Witzke believes men should take on this responsibility for this aspect of life and for several reasons.

“Because it’s safer, cheaper, more effective and less invasive, men are starting to see that having a vasectomy is probably the method for permanent sterilization,” said Dr. Witzke.

“There’s no doubt that the vasectomy is safer because it is a procedure that’s done right in the office we’re standing in under local anesthetic. It takes about 10 minutes, and especially if I’m using a no-scalpel technique, which is the technique I use, there’s very few complications, if any,” he said.

Whereas when tubal ligation is performed on a woman, there are a number of risks and costs to consider.

“Done in a woman it requires hospital admission for day surgery, general anesthetic, and it’s an invasive procedure, where the tube is actually placed inside the woman so the risk of complications, such as perforations exist,” said Dr. Witzke. In a small number of cases, women can also experience a tubal pregnancy, where the baby often develops in the fallopian tube. This can be life threatening.

But risks aside, the surgeon says more vasectomies could lift a burden off the healthcare system.

“In these days of healthcare restraints, we all have to do our part to try and maintain that budget, and a vasectomy because it’s done in my office, using my supplies and not using anesthetics and not having a patient admitted to hospital, it’s probably at least 80 per cent cheaper for the Alberta Health Services,” said Dr. Witzke.

Dr. Witzke believes there would be even more vasectomies if the public knew Alberta Health covers the basic cost of it.