Caroline Deys | |
|---|---|
 Deys demonstrating a condom, 1972 | |
| Born | Caroline Merula Deys (1938-07-02)2 July 1938 |
| Died | 6 May 2019(2019-05-06) (aged 80) Islington, London, England |
| Education | Barts |
Caroline Merula Deys (2 July 1938 – 6 May 2019) was a Britishfamily planning doctor and latergeneral practitioner. She won a key case against aGeneral Medical Council complaint in 1972 that had been motivated by her work on legalising abortion in the UK. She performed around 4750vasectomies in the 1970s, when she was the only female doctor specialising in the procedure in Europe.
Deys was born to "Richard" Adolf Deys and Daisy Barragwanath. Her father was killed in a bombing raid early inWorld War II. Her mother re-married William Paterson Brown, a psychiatrist.[1] She attendedSt Paul's Girls' School, then studied medicine atBarts medical school in London, graduating in 1962.
Having originally specialised in ophthalmology, she trained in family planning underDorothy Morgan in the mid-1960s. She worked with her husband on the successful campaign to legalise abortion in the UK, which led to the1967 Abortion Act.[1]
In 1967, she co-founded the Cambridge Advisory Centre with her husband and others, which provided contraceptive advice to young people, and she then developed and ran a domiciliary family planning service in Cambridgeshire in 1968-9.[2] She often involved her baby daughter in her work[2] and demonstrated the safety of theoral contraceptive by giving a pill to her young child.[3]
Having trained in the procedure in India,[1] she worked performingvasectomies at a clinic in London from 1970. She performed around 4750 in the 1970s.[4]
In April 1972, Deys was featured in a spread inThe Sunday People about her work and how she was the only female vasectomist in Europe.[5][6] However, she was then brought before theGeneral Medical Council (GMC) accused of a charge of serious professional misconduct relating to the article. The complaint was made by Philip Addison, then secretary of theMedical Defence Union (MDU), on behalf of a member. The text of the complaint claimed that she had "acquiesced in the publication of matter commending and drawing attention to her professional skill, knowledge and services" and that this was "for the purpose of promoting her own professional advantage." Advertising was contrary to GMC rules at the time, but similar newspaper articles about other doctors had not produced any action. Rather, Addison was motivated by his opposition to the legalisation of abortion;[4] he had previously complained to the GMC about two abortion doctors in 1969.[7][3][1]
The MDU[8][9][10] and GMC were criticised over the case.[11][12] Deys was defended byRobert Alexander and won her defence;[13][14] the GMC revised its rules in response.[1][4] The surrounding publicity was reported to have boosted the popularity of vasectomies.[15]
Deys developed a theory relating contraceptive choice to cultural factors around gender. She noted that men in more patriarchal cultures preferred forms of contraception controlled by the man, like thecondom and vasectomies. Couples in more gender equal cultures preferred forms of contraception controlled by the woman, like the oral contraceptive ortubal ligation.[16]
In the 1980s, Deys switched togeneral practice, setting up practice inHighgate, London.[17][18]
She marriedMalcolm Potts in 1966, with whom she had two children.[1]She taughtfirst aid forSt John's Ambulance and was made a Serving Sister of the Order of St John in 1987.[19][20] She became aReader in theChurch of England.[1] She was later aRotarian, being awarded theirPaul Harris medal.[1]
She died from complications caused bytype 2 diabetes in theWhittington Hospital.[1]