What Is Mississippi Appendectomy
Mississippi Appendectomy
By: Kevin Cortez
February 10th, 2015
Perhaps what is most disturbing about the "Mississippi appendectomy" is that there are very few documents that have recorded these events which were indicative of unethical human rights violations. However, the few documents that have been found are disturbingly descriptive. Fannie Lou Hamer is often regarded as the individual who coined the term Mississippi appendectomy after she went into the Sunflower City Hospital to have a small uterine tumor removed and came out having a complete hysterectomy performed on her. This unnecessary operation was performed in 1961 without her consent under the authority of her attending surgeon. Years later as she rose as a leader in the black …show more content…
However, she left the hospital barren without knowing what happened. Her physician decided to perform a complete hysterectomy without getting her consent or telling her about the operation. By definition, a hysterectomy involves the removal of the uterus but may also include removing the ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix, and other nearby structures. Eventually becoming a leader of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, it wasn't until three years later that Hamer elaborated about the events that took place that day. She spoke out to an audience in Washington, DC describing to them that many black women in her area of residence had fallen victims to a Mississippi Appendectomy. She elaborated that a Mississippi appendectomy is a hysterectomy performed on poor black women who had received no indication that they were going to receive this type of surgery and did not ask for the procedure to be done. Based on the research she provided, 60% of black women in Sunflower County, Mississippi were subjected to some form of sterilization without giving their consent. However, other nonconsensual procedures were also occurring in other southern …show more content…
Many black women were put under pressure by being told that if they did not consent to the sterilization procedure, they would lose their welfare benefits along with any medical and dental care they were eligible to receive. This common form of unnecessary and non-consensual form of sterilization became known as "Mississippi appendectomy(ies)" among the southern black communities. Particularly in the 1970's, this form of sterilization was growing at an increasing rate and in a span of ten years (1970-1980) the number of cases grew from 200,000 cases to over 700,000 cases. (Mississippi Eugenics) In Mississippi alone, there were a total of 683 sterilizations resulting from the eugenics project. Although most sterilizations were performed on females (523), males were also victims (160) of these procedures. Mississippi passed a sterilization law in 1928 resulting in a small increase of operations. However, sterilizations greatly increased towards the end of the 1930's. Cases involving sterilization was also on the rise in other
By: Kevin Cortez
February 10th, 2015
Perhaps what is most disturbing about the "Mississippi appendectomy" is that there are very few documents that have recorded these events which were indicative of unethical human rights violations. However, the few documents that have been found are disturbingly descriptive. Fannie Lou Hamer is often regarded as the individual who coined the term Mississippi appendectomy after she went into the Sunflower City Hospital to have a small uterine tumor removed and came out having a complete hysterectomy performed on her. This unnecessary operation was performed in 1961 without her consent under the authority of her attending surgeon. Years later as she rose as a leader in the black …show more content…
However, she left the hospital barren without knowing what happened. Her physician decided to perform a complete hysterectomy without getting her consent or telling her about the operation. By definition, a hysterectomy involves the removal of the uterus but may also include removing the ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix, and other nearby structures. Eventually becoming a leader of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, it wasn't until three years later that Hamer elaborated about the events that took place that day. She spoke out to an audience in Washington, DC describing to them that many black women in her area of residence had fallen victims to a Mississippi Appendectomy. She elaborated that a Mississippi appendectomy is a hysterectomy performed on poor black women who had received no indication that they were going to receive this type of surgery and did not ask for the procedure to be done. Based on the research she provided, 60% of black women in Sunflower County, Mississippi were subjected to some form of sterilization without giving their consent. However, other nonconsensual procedures were also occurring in other southern …show more content…
Many black women were put under pressure by being told that if they did not consent to the sterilization procedure, they would lose their welfare benefits along with any medical and dental care they were eligible to receive. This common form of unnecessary and non-consensual form of sterilization became known as "Mississippi appendectomy(ies)" among the southern black communities. Particularly in the 1970's, this form of sterilization was growing at an increasing rate and in a span of ten years (1970-1980) the number of cases grew from 200,000 cases to over 700,000 cases. (Mississippi Eugenics) In Mississippi alone, there were a total of 683 sterilizations resulting from the eugenics project. Although most sterilizations were performed on females (523), males were also victims (160) of these procedures. Mississippi passed a sterilization law in 1928 resulting in a small increase of operations. However, sterilizations greatly increased towards the end of the 1930's. Cases involving sterilization was also on the rise in other