About dontfixit.org
The website dontfixit.org has been around since year 2000 and claims to "Blow the whistle" on the dangerous practice of vasectomy. Principally, the site exists to sell the author Kevin Hauber's two self-published books "If it ain't broke", and "Leave it alone". Both the books and the site make many claims about health risks associated with vasectomy that the author claims have been "covered up" by the medical profession in order to protect their lucrative income. The website and books are a mixture of these so-called covered up facts and personal testimony. Using personal testimony is a perfectly valid way of adding a human dimension. However, if you are trying to sell a book or an ideology, you need more. You need hard facts to back up the claims made. Both the website and associated books set about the task of adding what the reader is intended to think is hard evidence to the personal testimony. Hauber bills himself as "Author and vasectomy survivor". When reading the site, you need to make a judgement on if the "Author", or "Vasectomy survivor" is the main voice or motivation.
It's worth pointing out that this site doesn't question the personal testimony or opinion of any person connected with, or posting to dontfixit.org - just what Kevin Hauber claims are "Facts". But just how solid are the "Hard facts" as presented by dontfixit.org? Would it surprise you to learn that you cannot rely on one single referenced quote for accuracy, and that some of the quotes are simply made up?
- Virtually all of the medical quotes used have been selectively quoted out of the original context
- In most extracts or quotes key sentences or sections have been removed, thus altering what the study actually said
- In some instances sentences been added that never appeared in the original
- Some quotes have been made up by taking part-sentences from various studies to make whole quotes that never appeared in any of the original studies
- Most of the diseases he claims are associated with vasectomy have been proven to have no association with vasectomy
- There are several quotes from a doctor who has been struck off of the medical register
- Some of the quotes that you are meant to believe are from published studies are in fact quotes from personal web pages of his supporters and are purely personal opinion
There are many studies that conclusively prove the opposite of what Hauber says, but they aren't used, or referred to. The vast majority of studies quoted have been heavily modified to fit into the premise of the retail product. Much of the so-called evidence has no reference to any published study. He relies heavily on personal web pages and other books in the genre for source material.
In the pages that follow, you can compare the supposed quote with the original text. We provide a link to the original study at the National Library of Medicine so that you can read the original, or verify that we have quoted accurately. Whilst doing the research for this website, I've located and read every single study mentioned on the dontfixit.org website. I've compared the original with what is supposed to be a quote from it. I've also done research into the claims made. Part of this research has been to contact the authors of some of the studies for clarifications. Although I must stress that I do not speak for, or act on behalf of any of the authors of the studies in question, the authors I contacted have all given me the thumbs up, and have offered me their support.
Who is behind this site
My name is David Brown, and I'm one of the founder members of the newsgroup alt.support.vasectomy. I also run the group website www.vasectomy-information.com. I had a vasectomy over a decade ago, and at the time no dedicated forum existed where men considering vasectomy could chat with other men who had already had it done. I met a guy on a completely unrelated newsgroup when he asked a vasectomy question purely because the group had mostly men posters, and he figured that someone out there must have had one and would chat to him on the topic. I chatted to him, and saw him through his vasectomy. We decided that a dedicated forum should exist, and out of that conversation the newsgroup alt.support.vasectomy became live in 1999. It's been nearly a decade since, and I still feel as strongly today as I did then that men should have the opportunity of getting as much information from all sources in order to make the decision that's right for them.
Why does this site exist?
I've known about dontfixit.org for many years. I recall it first came to my attention in the year 2000, and I've observed it's progress since then. The site initially promised that all it said was true, and the lid would be blown off of this scandal "real soon". In the intervening years what has actually happened is that new research has simply further refuted the claims, and far from becoming a prominent authority site and being regarded as a sole voice of reason in a sea of madness, the site is widely seen as a crank site. Over the years the site hasn't increased it's visitor traffic or page rank, but has been on a slow but steady slide downwards. Indeed, the Alexa rank has slipped off the scale and approaching the 5,000,000 ranking point at time of writing. Toolbar rankings such as Alexa do have their failings, but do provide a pretty accurate overall picture of site traffic and popularity.
So why bother to write this site bearing in mind that I think dontfixit is widely seen as a crank site with poor (and declining) visitor numbers? Surely it's better to just ignore it in that case? Basically that's what I have done. I've known about dontfixit for years, and have ignored it for precisely those reasons. It makes much more sense to concentrate my efforts and limited time into making my site perform better in search engine rankings by keeping it up to date, and over the years that is where I have spent my time, and achieved that goal. However, there are two genuine reasons as to why it has been worthwhile to produce this site.
Firstly, as webmaster of vasectomy-information.com I have a varied and busy in-box. A reasonably large number of emails relate to dontfixit.org. Men ask me how accurate the information is, and why isn't something done about the site bearing in mind the great dis-service it does to men. In order to help answer the questions on accuracy, I felt that having a site that detailed the quotes, and discussed the accuracy of them would be the best way of providing quality answers to those questions. I now just need to refer such questions to this site, so it's a time saver for me and provides the quality answers men are looking for.
Secondly, the reaction of men who find out that they have been misled is often one of anger. The comment I usually get is "Why isn't there a site out there that puts the record straight?", and it's usually accompanied by the idea that I should do an analysis of the claims and post it on my website. Whilst I do have sympathy with this idea, my concern has always been with my site. I've always felt that putting such an analysis on my site would only give him site traffic, and some form of legitimacy. But after a lot of years of encouragement and pressure to set this site up, here it (finally) is.
The human cost of mis-information
The point I'd like to make is that there is a cost to the mis-information, and it can have a deep effect on people. I'd like to illustrate the case of a guy I chatted to before Christmas. I use this example because it's a, recent and b, the guy concerned is keen to have this part of his story told. The guy in question had a vasectomy some months back, and recently developed testicular pain. He made the assumption that the pain would be related to vasectomy, and did a little bit of Googling, landing upon dontfixit.org. Thinking it's a genuine peer support group, he gets in contact. He is informed that the symptoms he has are indeed classic post-vasectomy pain syndrome, and that one of the likely cures for this is removal of one (or both) testicles.
Ever been told that you have an illness that will have a deep and lasting impact on your life? I have. I was told by a consultant's understudy that I had Angina once. It subsequently turned out that the symptoms were caused by stress, and my heart was fine. But in the waiting period between being told this and having the Angiogram that proved I didn't have it I went through fear, depression and a great many other emotions. I can't imagine what it's like to be told I'll lose both testicles. Fortunately the guy in question is (as most people are) wary of web advice, and kept searching. He contacted me, and I suggested he contact his GP. As it turns out, the pain was not caused by the vasectomy but was a trapped Sciatic nerve and he is now getting the treatment for this. Although he wasn't totally sold on the advice dontfixit gave him, he still lived through the period building up to Christmas with an element of doubt that he might lose both testicles. This had a very negative effect on him and his family, hence he wanted his story told here. This type of case is a regular feature of the emails I receive. I do follow through these stories were I get given a valid, working email address, and in all cases to date the pain has been unrelated to vasectomy.
I personally don't doubt that PVP exists, but in order to have that diagnosis, you need to follow the route of precluding all other possible causes. I have regular correspondence with doctors who perform vasectomy and treat post-vasectomy pain, and in the vast majority of cases the symptoms have other causes and are mostly easy to diagnose and treat. Men do have a habit of assuming that it "Must" be caused by vasectomy, even if the vasectomy was years before the discomfort or pain started. My advice to all men thinking they have PVP is simple. Chronic testicular pain is equally prevalent in men that haven't had a vasectomy and a common urological complaint. Go to your doctor, don't make any assumptions on what is causing the pain, keep an open mind and work with him to identify the true cause of pain.
A word about how men use the internet for vasectomy information
Over the years, by spending a lot of time analysing web log data and chatting to people I've gained extensive knowledge of how men considering vasectomy use the internet to search for information. The assumption made by dontfixit.org is that people landing on the site will believe it above all other sites, or be so shocked by it's startling revelations that they are put off having a vasectomy. The web doesn't work that way. Most people having used the internet for a short period will be used to the fact that much of the information online is incorrect, badly researched or put there to serve the site owners personal motivations. Most people are therefore perfectly able to distinguish between sites that look genuine and sites that are questionable. When doing research, men won't look at one site in isolation - they look at a variety of sites, compare information and use their judgement to make decisions on the accuracy of sites.
In the case of vasectomy, on some searches they may come across dontfixit.org. Having seen a lot of other sites already, it's a bit of a shock to turn up a site in such contrast with all of the rest of the information they have found and read. This is where the shock tactics backfire. Rather than believe the site, serious researchers instead start to question their new findings, and check if any of the new facts they have been presented with are corroborated elsewhere. When they find they are not, they form the view that the site is yet another crank site - the internet is littered with them. Hence the contents of my in-box as noted above. Yes, some men will fall for it hook, line and sinker, but that isn't the case for the majority of men.
One would assume that dontfixit's primary target group is men considering vasectomy in order to warn them off having it done. Or at least, that seems to me to be the logical primary target group. However, apart from a very small number of men who are bound to be put off, he's managed to alienate men considering vasectomy by his lack of understanding of how men considering vasectomy look for information online. Alienating your primary market is not the best tactic.
In conclusion
I accept that this site might be heavy going reading. I've tried to make the analysis as concise as possible, but in order to present the full facts, it's not been possible to make it as concise as I'd have liked. I hope this site goes some way to setting the record straight as regards the facts, and that it's of use to men considering vasectomy who have been alarmed by reading dontfixit.org.
Legal Disclaimer:- This site is NOT a personal attack on Kevin Hauber, or any other individual that posts to dontfixit.org, or contributes to Kevin Hauber's books and should not be misconstrued as such. Nor should this site be considered to be questioning the character, morals, motives or integrity of Kevin Hauber or any other individual. The site exists to legitimately question the accuracy and authenticity of quotations attributed to other individuals, and the context in which such quotation is used by Kevin Hauber and dontfixit.org. It also will legitimately question the accuracy of statements made by dontfixit.org and Kevin Hauber. This site does not have a book to sell, we are not supported by sponsorship from the medical profession and we are not supported by advertising.
