previous caesar”. She also signed a second “consent form for sterilisation” in which she consented to undergo the “operation of tubular ligation, the nature of which has been explained to me. I have been told that the object of the operation is to render a patient sterile and incapable of parenthood”. The form further states that plaintiff understands that if successful the procedure may be irreversible. At the bottom of this form there is a statement to be completed by a doctor to the effect that the doctor declares that he or she has explained the procedure and related aspects of sterilisation to the patient. This part of the form was not completed and not signed. This form also contains a section for a statement by the spouse of the patient which is optional. He testified that one would have expected the doctor to have signed this form, preferably earlier on in the pregnancy and in order to given the patient time to consider all her options. The witness testified that it is normally regarded that three caesarean sections are permissible because of the risk of the rupture of the uterus, bleeding and various complications with increasing caesarean sections. He also testified that on perusal of the hospital notes there is no record of the type of counseling that was provided and if alternative forms of contraception were offered. It further appears from the hospital records that a caesarean section was done due to prolonged labour which is a perfect valid reason for performing the caesarean procedure since prolonged labour in an HIV positive patient increases the incidence of mother-to-child transmission. [23] In respect of the third plaintiff consultation was done on 27 April 2010 at his consulting rooms and a laparoscopy was carried out on 3 May 2010 in the Central Hospital. The third plaintiff was 46 years old and had 6 normal deliveries and one caesarean section. The witness testified that from a surgical point of view the prognosis for reversing the sterilisation was good but the chances of another pregnancy would not be good at all due to the age of the plaintiff. The third plaintiff signed the standard form of consent to an operation on 13 October 2005. It appears from this form that she consented to a caesarean section due to prolonged first stage and BTL. The third plaintiff 12 also signed a second consent form for sterilisation on the same date. The statement at the bottom of this form was completed and signed by Dr Sichimwa on 13 October 2005. It appears from the hospital records that when she was in labour for natural birth, there was no booking for her for a sterilisation procedure. There was nothing in the health passport of the plaintiff that she was to have a sterilisation procedure. [24] The witness testified that the pain experienced during labour by women can be extremely intense and can become so overwhelming that they virtually loose sense of reality. They are not aware of anything else except this awful pain. He testified that the circumstances under which to secure the consent of a patient in respect of a sterilisation procedure is when the patient is rational and not in pain, has time to consider it, time to discuss it with her partner and