FALCON1

I went into the clinic today. Short version: got rejected.

Here's what happened.

 - I spoke with women at the desk of the vasectomy area. There were 2 at first, and a third joined.

 - The first thing they said to me was "how many children?"

 - I asked them to clarify why they ask that (hoping to find an angle of how to reason past the rule). They said various things: "It's the rule"... "It's a law of Thailand".. "It's the rule of the clinic" their English was decent but not great, so they were searching for the right words at times. They gave me a sheet of paper with a list of rules and information. Now I wish I had taken a picture of it to show here. There were 7 or so rules. #1 is you must have two children. #2 is if you only have one child, it must be over 5 years old. Then there are some others. One is that if you are divorced, you need counseling with the doctor first (a discussion, I believe, not like therapy)

 - I asked why they have the requirements of children, about 4-5 times throughout the conversation. I think I made them a bit uncomfortable. I was asking in polite and gentle ways.

 - I also asked that if I have other reasons for wanting a vasectomy, are those taken into consideration to loosen the child rule. (can't remember is I mentioned the reason being my family's poor medical history) They sort of said yes, and said that I could discuss this stuff with a doctor. I thought that was a good sign. They said I'd have to wait about 30 minutes to see the doctor.

 - Within a minute, while we were still talking, a/the doctor came walking by. The women (I believe) summarized our conversation for him in Thai. I gave him a bit of my "I don't have kids because I never ever wanted them, and I'm never going to) spiel. I didn't get around to explaining the medical history thing. He was more certain and final with his language, and after maybe a minute of talking he said "if you want one, go to a private hospital, they will do it. He mentioned one by name that starts with a B but I couldn't recognize. They said the cost is 10k-20k baht. At that point I gave up trying to convince him, because I felt that was kind of a check-mate in the conversation. While I'd strongly prefer to have it done free, I could pay that. 

If I were in the U.S., where I've lived all my life (and am much better at convincing people, getting details out of people, recognizing how much I can keep pushing, etc.) I would have tried harder. But here, I don't know how things work all that well, and I don't really know the details of who these services are meant for, and so on. 

Something I forgot to clarify for them is my age. I'm 37. Most Thai people, when I tell them my age, sayI look more like 30 (not sure if that's just a compliment they all say, or if they really think so). It's possible that all these people involved though I was closer to 30.

Given how the conversation starts, if I were to do this again from the start, I would:

 - Ask the doctor to sit down and talk with me for 10-15 minutes (instead of the brief standing discussion we had)

- Maybe - fake some birth certificates. I could do this easily. (The list of rules did have some other documents that they expected, though I can't recall what it was)

For now, I'll just wait and get it done in a different country.

5 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

i went to the PDA for a vasectomy a few months ago, but they wouldn't do it, they wanted to see children birth certificates and photos ....

How old are you? Are you married?

37 minutes ago, kingofthemountain said:

Interesting topic

i will be interested to know too if 

someone has done a vasectomy here in Thailand (Where? Was it difficult? what was the price? )

I've read that 80% of the vasectomies performed in Bangkok are done at PDA. That's one reason I want to do it at PDA and not with some other doctor who does them only rarely.

I've found a handful of accounts of people who had one done there. The general consensus is: "No frills but they did a good job". That, and they (along with other surgeons) turn away people without numerous kids. Given your age, I think it's likely they'd do one for you.

Another option I forgot to include:

7 - Let them know I'll give a large donation. (I've read that most donations are 50-100 Baht, so, maybe something like 3-5k)

On 11/26/2019 at 1:28 PM, StreetCowboy said:

Is this a bad time to ask if anyone has tried carrying their bike on the back of a moto-taxi?

If your bike is light enough, and you're used to carrying it cyclo-cross style, you could certainly do it. Hope you get a driver who will be aware of and remember the additional width of your bike and not smash it into other vehicles. The likelyhood of this happening would be my main concern and would probably prevent me from trying.

My personal opinion is that if you want to cycle mainly for exercise, you should find a gym with spin bikes and filtered air. If you want to ride for sight-seeing and such, Bang Krachao looks like a good place (I haven't been there myself). If you want to ride for fitness in a place like Lumphini park or Benakiti park - well, if you're in decent shape and fast, most times of day it will be too busy and a lot of danger of crashing into walkers/runners/slow cyclists. 

Hello. I've seen some discussion here and my general impression is that many/most doctors in Thailand will only perform a vasectomy for men who meet most or all of the criteria below:

• At least a certain age. Maybe 30, maybe 40
• Currently married, sometimes they ask/require the wife to come along and confirm desire for the vasectomy
• Currently has at least two children over the age of 5

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My personal situation:

• 37 years old
• No children
• Never married. I’ve had long-term relationships.
• Never, ever wanted to have children. Specifically want to NOT have them.
• My family does have some poor medical history including some inheritable problems (heart defects causing early death, Multiple Sclerosis, many allergies
• In Thailand this time until 5 January. (Then Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia. Listing these incase folks here know that it’s easier to get a vasectomy there. I’m not planning to go to Singapore)

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My impression is if I go to the PDA clinic or some other doctor and I am straightforward - saying “I have never wanted children. I’m as sure as I can possibly be that I will never want to. I don’t have any children because I’ve thought this through and been responsible. So let’s do this.” they will say no and try to get me to leave.

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I am new to Thailand and I don’t have much experience using logic or charm to convince Thai people.

So - what do you folks recommend I do to try to make this happen. Some options that have popped into my head are:

1. Be completely honest.
2. If they say no, go back a few times and try again. (to either get different decision makers, or to show how serious I am/build familiarity/wear them down)
3. Tell them that I do have children. I could show pictures of me with nephews, but of course I couldn’t show them birth certificates. I suppose I could create fake birth certificates that would look pretty convincing as being a photocopies of them, but I don’t know if I want to go to that level of deception
4. Explain or exaggerate my family history of medical conditions and that I don’t want to pass on my bad genes
5. Some sort of appeal to public good along with proclaiming I wouldn’t support children “Look, I’m dating and having sex with women here. I’m going to leave. I’m not taking a woman or children with me. We don’t want some poor girl here stuck raising a kid alone, do we?”    (I’d be very hesitant to try this one as I think it could cause extreme offense)
6. Others? What?

Which of these do you think I should try?