Section 1958 Of Chapter 6. Sterilization From California Probate Code >> Division 4. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 6.
1958
. The court may authorize the conservator of a person proposed
to be sterilized to consent to the sterilization of that person only
if the court finds that the petitioner has established all of the
following beyond a reasonable doubt:
(a) The person named in the petition is incapable of giving
consent to sterilization, as defined in Section 1951, and the
incapacity is in all likelihood permanent.
(b) Based on reasonable medical evidence, the individual is
fertile and capable of procreation.
(c) The individual is capable of engaging in, and is likely to
engage in sexual activity at the present or in the near future under
circumstances likely to result in pregnancy.
(d) Either of the following:
(1) The nature and extent of the individual's disability as
determined by empirical evidence and not solely on the basis of any
standardized test, renders him or her permanently incapable of caring
for a child, even with appropriate training and reasonable
assistance.
(2) Due to a medical condition, pregnancy or childbirth would pose
a substantially elevated risk to the life of the individual to such
a degree that, in the absence of other appropriate methods of
contraception, sterilization would be deemed medically necessary for
an otherwise nondisabled woman under similar circumstances.
(e) All less invasive contraceptive methods including supervision
are unworkable even with training and assistance, inapplicable, or
medically contraindicated. Isolation and segregation shall not be
considered as less invasive means of contraception.
(f) The proposed method of sterilization entails the least
invasion of the body of the individual.
(g) The current state of scientific and medical knowledge does not
suggest either (1) that a reversible sterilization procedure or
other less drastic contraceptive method will shortly be available, or
(2) that science is on the threshold of an advance in the treatment
of the individual's disability.
(h) The person named in the petition has not made a knowing
objection to his or her sterilization. For purposes of this
subdivision, an individual may be found to have knowingly objected to
his or her sterilization notwithstanding his or her inability to
give consent to sterilization as defined in Section 1951. In the case
of persons who are nonverbal, have limited verbal ability to
communicate, or who rely on alternative modes of communication, the
court shall ensure that adequate effort has been made to elicit the
actual views of the individual by the facilitator appointed pursuant
to Section 1954.5, or by any other person with experience in
communicating with developmentally disabled persons who communicate
using similar means.