The Royal Institution of Australia – who are the behind this somewhat novel idea – hope that the public procedures encourage “wider and more open discussion on male contraception and population control,” according to Yahoo 7.
Lisa Bailey, from the institution is quoted as saying: “How vasectomy fits into cultural practices both in Australia and around the world and, to go along with all of this, we will actually be having live vasectomies performed on stage.
“We’re certainly not saying that this is the answer to global population or anything like that, but I think it’s a good way to get people starting to discuss how we do think about population, how we do think about managing birth rates and things like that?”
The plan is that the doctors and surgeons performing the procedures would be able to field questions from audience members before the surgery.
While the plan certainly seems a bold one in inciting public debate on some important issues, it has not been met with universal approval.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA), for one, have voiced some concern – saying that strict safeguards would need to be in place both for the patient and the audience members.
“Those safeguards would be for the patient, making sure they had full understanding of the procedure and also the possible psychological unexpected consequences of being in front of a live audience, but finally also for the public who might be viewing,” said Ms Patricia Montanaro of the AMA.
“They need to have full disclosure to ensure they are aware of what they might be confronted by.”
Which would be – in explicit terms – watching a doctor use surgical instruments on a man’s penis, am I correct? Yes? Well count me out.
Image: Getty
