Tit For Tat

Why do doctors remove healthy ovaries? Most of the patients who have hysterectomies in my hospital come back missing a pair of ovaries. If they were diseased, I could understand it. I could even understand it if the patient had a strong family history of ovarian cancer. What I don't understand is why healthy ovaries are being removed routinely.

My patient today is a perfect example. She is a healthy woman in her early forties and had a hysterectomy due to heavy bleeding from fibroids. Even before the surgery, the plan was to remove the ovaries for no expressed reason. (The picture is of what they removed.) The ovaries were perfectly healthy.

This woman will now go through sudden menopause with all of the accompanying risks of early menopause. Hormones will help, but they are a poor substitute for what the body produces naturally.

I'm just guessing, but maybe it's easier and faster to remove the whole package, rather than tie off and leave behind the ovaries. If anyone knows why this is happening, I would really like to know.

If ovaries are being removed because it's one less type of cancer a woman might be faced with, than I think that men should receive the same favor. If a man has surgery near his pelvic area, than his testicles should also be removed routinely. What's fair is fair. Tit for tat and all that. Just kidding. (I think.)