I was referred to you by my new Primary Care Physician because I expressed that I wanted tubal ligation. My PCP was supportive of this choice. About an hour before our scheduled appointment (and before having ever spoken to me) you called me to inform me that you are refusing to provide a tubal ligation to me because I am “too young and might regret it”.

You added that the legal minimum age one must be in order to choose tubal ligation is 21 years old, but that “the regret rate is so high” that you don't feel comfortable providing this care to anyone younger than 28/29. I am 24 now and I turn 25 years old in January. I'm 3 years older than the government has determined I must be in order to choose this.

Instead of taking the time to properly discuss the procedure so you can feel confident your patients are making an informed choice, your solution is to deny your patients their legal right to choose this procedure for an additional 7-8 years. Again, we had never spoken before you called to tell me that you refuse to provide me this medical care. You neglected to ask me about my situation, my thoughts on the procedure, why I want it, and the tools/skills I have in place to cope with regret if that's something I experience in the future.

Tubal ligation does not permanently take away my ability to have children, only my ability to naturally become pregnant. When I envision my future, I imagine that in my 40’s I'll have the emotional intelligence and the finances required to be a successful parent. Even if I've had tubal ligation, my eggs will remain. I can undergo IVF with a surrogate or life partner, I can adopt a child, I can be a step-parent, or I can be a foster parent. For people seeking this procedure who do want to be pregnant in the future, it is possible to get IVF using their own eggs and still become pregnant. When you spoke to me about the regret that I might feel someday, it was specifically regret about “not being able to have children.” To reiterate, receiving tubal ligation does not prevent me from having children or even from having biological children.

Additionally, I mentioned to you that I am a transgender man. Being pregnant is one of the most gender dysphoria inducing experiences I can imagine. Not only would pregnancy cause me extreme emotional distress, but it has significant health risks. I've known for years now that even if I choose parenthood, I NEVER want to be pregnant. The average cost of pregnancy alone is $16,884, I can't afford to be pregnant.

I only have one year left on my parents’ insurance. I can't reliably count on being able to afford this procedure when I am 28 years old, the arbitrary minimum age you require patients to be. When I asked “if I am denied this procedure and between now and the time I turn 28 and I experience an unwanted pregnancy and I do not have safe access to an abortion is that not just as permanent and regretful of a situation?” you responded "I see that side of it and like, who am I to make this choice for you? But I am just not comfortable with it.”

Because of my Nexplanon implant and gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy I no longer have a menstrual cycle. If I were to experience an unwanted pregnancy I have no way of knowing until physical signs began to show because I cannot use my period as an indicator. I may not be able to catch it until too late into the pregnancy to terminate it.

You stated that if you were the only one who was able to provide me this service then “that would be one thing,” but that other doctors will provide me this service so you feel okay denying me care. Yet you were unable to provide a single doctor who you can confidently assure me WILL provide that care. In denying me this care, you truly are taking this choice away from me.

When I asked why you won't perform the surgery, you boiled it down to this: “I am uncomfortable with it. I need to be comfortable performing it and I’m not.” As a patient, this tells me that your emotional comfort takes priority over my need for medical care. Additionally, it feels to me that you see me as someone who is old enough to carry and raise a child but not as someone old enough to decide not to do this.

As a result, I now have to travel 87 miles away to get this procedure. I do not have access to a car so this will be significantly more costly for me as I will have to take more time off of work. Having to seek care from multiple providers is not equitable, affordable, reasonable, or right.

At this point, I honestly wouldn't feel comfortable receiving tubal ligation or any other gynecological care from you because this situation has left a marked impression that you do not take the time to listen to or understand your patients. I sincerely hope that you are able to hear this feedback not as an attack, but as a genuine plea for you to treat your patients with more humanity and respect for their personal autonomy

Submitted Nov. 21, 2022

I've gone to Dr Saikie over the past 5 years for general care as well as two routine, healthy pregnancies. As long as I'm living in the area, he'll be my doctor! His staff is extremely friendly, personable and caring, his office is clean and I've never waited over 5 minutes to be called into my appointment. Unfortunately he wasn't on call for either of my deliveries, but his colleagues who were on call at the time were great as well! The review from 2008 which states that he doesn't induce for non-medical reasons and helps patients up from the table are still true today and two of the reasons why I will be continuing to go to Dr Saikie for care. I went past 40 weeks with both of my pregnancies and he completely supported my decision to not induce as long as the baby and I were still healthy I really appreciate that he takes my opinions into account and has never made me feel pressured to make any decisions that I was uncomfortable with. I would highly recommend him!

Submitted Dec. 18, 2014

I don't normally see Dr. Saikie, however he was the doctor on call the weekend I had my daughter. He came to my room the next day and spent time checking me over and seemed to really care about how I was feeling.

Submitted May 11, 2011

Dr. Saikie was wonderful. He isn't one to induce for non-medical reasons (which I think is a plus - he obviously cares about the well-being of both patients and won't induce because it's trendy). His specialty is high-risk pregnancies, although mine was routine. My husband liked him - they would talk and talk about music. On a smaller note, Dr. Saikie always helped me up from the examination table but when I visited a female doctor in the practice, she didn't. It was a small but appreciated gesture, especially since sitting up is a luxury lost after the first few months of pregnancy. He is very personable. I would highly recommend him!

Submitted July 23, 2008