'I didn't want it done': Saskatoon woman was sterilized against her will

A Saskatoon woman sterilized against her will five years ago says she is still suffering physically and emotionally from the procedure.

Brenda Pelletiertold CBC Newsshe was a recovering addict when she underwent a tubal ligation at Royal University Hospital. Her mother was caring for her twin sonsand four other children at the time.

WhenPelletierdelivered her youngest daughter, a social worker told her she couldn't leave until she had a tubal ligation.She saidshe was hounded to sign the consent form.

"Constantly, like every couple hours. I don't knowif it was two hours or three hours but it was non-stop, all day, all night," Pelletier said. "Like right up until you better sign that, the operating room's ready."

Even in the operating room, Pelletier recalled, she said, "I don't want this," addingshe thought the procedure would only involve using clamps on her tubes, nothing more.

'Just burning the ends'

"You know I'm laying there, scared enough, not wanting this done, even telling her I didn't want it done," Pelletier recalled. "Then, all of a sudden, I smell something burned. If I could have jumped off that table I probably would have."

She said"the anaesthesiologistwas at my head and he said, 'It's OK dear.They're just burning the ends.'"

Pelletiersaid she still feels the emotional impact of what happened to her in hospital after she gave birth to her daughter.

"They tried to put that fear in me like if you don't do this we're going to take her from you," she said.

Pelletiersaid shehad to return to hospital a week after the procedure because she washemorrhaging. She said she still suffers painful, heavy menstruation.

Pelletier, who is CreeMtis,said she knows another woman, also an aboriginal, who had the same thing happen to her.

CBC hasbeen in touch with a third woman,RoxanneLedoux, who is Cree. She is also a recovering addict who confirmed to CBC that she was also told she needed to have atuballigation or she would be called a "negligent mother."

Hospital apologizes

Officials at the Saskatoon health region said they've apologized toPelletierand another womanwith a similar story.

"When I met with the womenI felt very sorry," saidJackie Mann,vice-president forintegrated health services. "I expressed to them my apology that the experience they had in our care its not the kind of experience we would ever want a woman to have in our care."

Mann said an external review has been ordered. The person who will head that review will be selected in the next week or two.

Mann said she cannot confirm whetherother women felt pressured to have the operation. However, Mann confirmed that in 2010, about 94tubal ligationprocedures were done after vaginal delivery. In 2015, the procedure was performed only20 times.

Mann said the health region has changed it policy:"We want to ensure that that woman has had that conversation [about whether to have a tubal ligation]with her physician prior to coming to the hospital."

Mann said any patient who has concerns about the care received in the Saskatoon Health Region should contact the client representative's office, addingthere has been no discussion of compensation for the women at this point.

Pelletiersaid she wants to see the policy change in writing:"I trust nobody."