PATIENT SELECTION GUIDELINES for Vasectomy Reversal ...
Every doctor must follow his or her heart and feel good about the recipients of his or her elective services. In the cases of couples who already have three or more children (his, hers, ours), I (Dr. Stein) would ask them to consider the following:
- While acknowledging the joys of parenthood (my wife and I had 2), we also
must respect its demands. Many of us feel an overabundance of love
toward our own children. But love is cheap - college is expensive. And parental time
and emotional support are more important still. So a very real concern, in some
cases, is the
well-being of children by prior partners. Once preoccupied with another
child by a new partner, will that dad be able to devote as much time to his
older children as they deserve, especially if additional time must be
devoted to transporting them back and forth between biological parents?
- Additional children also impose more
stress that drives couples apart more often than it brings them
together. One question to ask is whether a couple who already have multiple
children simply want to procreate more, or whether they feel a need to
bestow their love on more children. If the latter is the case, adoption
of one of thousands of children in foster care (and yearning for a loving
home) would be a more noble alternative. In 2024, there are 424,000 children
in foster care nationwide, 19,000 in Florida, with 600 children waiting for
permanent placement not even having identified families.
- We live in a world of over 8 billion humans, increasing
by 81 million per year. The USA is up to 335 million, rising by 1 person
every 16 seconds, about 2.5 million per year, 18.6 million in the next 10
years. Florida has 22.6 million, rising at a rate of
1000 persons per day. The results are ever more crowded
beaches, national and state parks, roads, and even wilderness areas; and daily loss to
"development" of hundreds of acres that other species call home. Just 20
years from now, as your children approach your present age,
Florida's population will be up another 5 million to 28 million, and more of
its native species will be gone. Will it be better? Are we leaving our
children with a Florida (or USA) as nice as the one we inherited?
- In September 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared 23 more species extinct. In each case, humans were the ultimate cause. Future generations will not be able to enjoy the biodiversity that has enriched our lives if human numbers and per-capita consumption continue to rise. What greater gift to future generations than to limit their numbers by limiting our own rate of procreation?
HOWEVER, Dr. Mary Samplaski will be joining our practice in early February 2025 and will likely follow different patient selection criteria.