[68] In respect of the first plaintiff it is common cause that the plan was that she would deliver naturally. The plan changed when she was diagnosed with CPD. The first plaintiff’s case is that she had no intention to have a sterilisation. It is common cause that the plaintiff did not signed any form dealing specifically with sterilisation. Dr Mavetera had no independent recollection of what was said to the plaintiff and had to rely on his contemporaneous notes. Dr Mavetera conceded that there was no contemporaneous record of any request by the first plaintiff or any expressed intention on first plaintiff’s part to have a sterilisation in any of her medical records. Registered nurse, Angula who had testified that she herself also explained the contents of the consent form to the plaintiff also conceded that her notes did not record that she had given this explanation. Both Dr Mavetera and nurse Angula assumed that plaintiff was informed of all aspects concerning sterilisation because she attended ante-natal classes. It was also conceded by Dr Mavetera that it is highly undesirable to use acronyms on consent forms. It is not disputed that the first plaintiff had been in labour for 14 to 15 hours. It must be accepted as testified by the plaintiff that she was in severe pain. It was Dr Mavetera’s evidence that when he explained to the plaintiff that he had to perform a caesarean section she decided that she wanted to be closed i.e. wanted to be sterilised. The consent obtained from the plaintiff for the sterilisation procedure was obtained under circumstances (testified to by Dr Kimberg) under which no consent should be obtained from a patent by a surgeon. It was obtained at the height of labour, there could not have been any proper counselling in the absence of any record of what information had been provided to the plaintiff, and it certainly, in view of the circumstances, was not obtained in an unhurried fashion. Dr Krönke unequivocally accepted that consent should not be obtained during labour – at least not obtained for the first time. Dr Mavetera was of the view that it was reasonable to do a caesarean section on the plaintiff aged 26 years at that stage due to the fact that it was her second live birth. In view of the undisputed testimony of Dr Kimberg that a woman aged 30 years or less at the time of the operation is more likely to be dissatisfied with a sterilisation and would seek a reversal, the decision taken by 35 Dr Mavetera appears to me not to be so reasonable as it was made out by Dr Mavetera under those circumstances and sounded more like an afterthought, an ex post facto rationalisation. Dr Mavetera correctly conceded, in my view, during cross-examination that he should rather have advised the first plaintiff to return after six weeks for the sterilisation procedure. [69] It is apparent from the authorities referred to supra that knowledge of the nature and extent of the harm and risk and an appreciation thereof do not necessary equal consent. Even though the evidence of the first plaintiff had been criticised by Ms Schimming-Chase who appeared on behalf of the defendant such criticism cannot detract from the circumstances under which the first plaintiff’s consent had been obtained, namely in circumstances in