Health insurance companies will not pay for many procedures, even when a patient and doctor both agree that the procedure should be done. Unfortunately, health insurance companies dictate medical care in this country. They have their own rules and require documentation of medical necessity and often “prior approval” in order to pay for certain procedures. To compound this, different insurance companies often have different sets of rules and requirements. I have even seen a case in which an insurance company refused to pay for surgery to remove a patient’s bladder even though she had well documented bladder cancer. The bottom line is what insurance companies are most concerned about, and if there is any way to get out of paying for something they will. Involvement of health insurance companies is one of the reasons that many Americans receive substandard healthcare. For more about this see: http://www.webanswers.com/health/health-insurance/ do-you-think-the-high-cost-of-health-care-might-be -causing-budget-problems-in-all-states-47c01e

That being said, even if the health insurance company was not calling the shots, I am not sure that you could find a doctor willing to perform a hysterectomy. There are many people who believe there are too many hysterectomies performed in this country. For more information about this see: http://www.webanswers.com/health/surgery/do-you-th ink-hysterectomies-are-a-direct-result-of-tubual-t ying-and-other-womb-blockages-63127d

If you are willing and able to pay for a hysterectomy out of your own pocket then you would be more likely to be able to get a doctor to do, but it would still be difficult. Doctors can be sued, sanctioned by their peers, denied hospital privileges, and/or even lose their license to practice medicine for performing what is considered “unnecessary surgery”. I have seen this happen even when doctor and patient both agreed that the surgery should be performed.

There are risks associated with hysterectomy, as there are with any surgery. For example, you could die from the anesthesia or bleed to death. Doctors must always weigh the potential risks and benefits of any medical care, and in your case, it would be very difficult for a doctor to justify the risks involved for the potential benefit to himself much less to other doctors and/or hospitals.

Premature ovarian failure is not considered a medical indication for hysterectomy and neither is fear of cancer. Ovarian cancer can be a very aggressive and difficult to treat cancer, therefore, all women that have knowledge of ovarian cancer have good reason to fear it. Based on that, should all women have hysterectomy (or at least their ovaries removed) once they are menopausal or decide they don’t want any [more] children? That is a debatable question. Even if all doctors agreed this should be done, insurance companies are not going to pay for it. It is hard enough to get an insurance company to pay for much less expensive care that is medically indicated. If you have a strong family history of ovarian cancer, you would have a better chance of convincing a doctor to remove your ovaries, but not a total hysterectomy, and you might even have a chance of convincing an insurance company to pay for it. I have seen this happen in at least one case.

Many women have at least one abnormal PAP smear at some time in their life and that has more to do with the method in which PAP smears are interpreted than anything else. Unless PAP smears are repeatedly abnormal and/or show progressively worsening changes, there is no real reason for concern. There are many much less invasive ways to treat precancerous changes of cervical cells. It is extremely rare that hysterectomy would even be considered and then only if there were definitely truly cancerous changes.

Questions that come to mind include: “Why is your fear of cancer in your reproductive organs so significant that you are willing to go through surgery and a painful recover period and even risk your life to alleviate your fears?” and “Why do you experience feelings of depression, frustration and sadness, which can greatly affect many aspects of your life?” There is more to fear regarding breast cancer, it is much more prevalent and causes many more deaths than cervical cancer and ovarian cancer combined. Do you also want to have a mastectomy? If not, why not?

It is understandable for you to be angry about having premature ovarian failure, and consider your reproductive organs useless and just somewhere that cancer can develop. You have every right to feel angry. It is not fair that you have premature ovarian failure. However, you need to be realistic in your expectations. If cancer is your concern, then the best thing for you to do is to have a PAP smear every year. Cervical cancer is a very slow growing cancer and there is actually a window of many years during which it can be treated, without requiring hysterectomy. Perform breast self examinations monthly and have at least one mammogram before you are 40 and then one every other year until you are 50, and then one every year. These are things that you can do to help increase the chances that if you do develop cancer it can be treated early and successfully. Unfortunately, there is not an approved screening test for ovarian cancer, although ultrasound might one day be approved for this purpose, but every other woman in the world shares this risk, without it resulting in depression, just as every man shares the risk of prostate cancer.

Perhaps you should consider counseling to help you deal with your fear of cancer, and feelings of depression and frustration. If you are lucky, maybe the health insurance company will pay for counseling.

I hope this is helpful.