Explain How The Buck V Bell Case Changed Virginia

How the Buck v Bell Case Changed Virginia
In Virginia, of 1927, mental facilities were allowed to perform a surgery to prevent “feeble minded” people from having children. This was because of eugenics, or the belief that mental illness could be passed down through generations. This is the reason behind the Buck v Bell case which is the only Supreme Court case that an intrusive medical procedure was considered a government policy (“3”).
In June of 1924, Carrie Buck, an 18 year old Charlottesville native, was hospitalized by her adopted family for being “feeble minded” after the birth of her illegitimate child. Buck’s birth mother, Emma Harlowe Buck, was reported to also be mentally ill. She and Carrie both had children out of wedlock, and

Seven US states and Puerto Rico agreed with this and enacted sterilization laws. Almost 28,000 people were sterilized in the years following the Buck case, 8,000 of those were from Virginia. When sterilization because of eugenics reached England it did not take hold because doctors did not feel that our knowledge of mental illness was that in depth. During the Nuremberg trials, Nazi defendants used Holmes decision in the Buck v Bell case to their defense of sterilization of Jews, gypsies, and the handicapped. Thankfully, in 1974 Virginia repealed its sterilization laws, and the hospital that Carrie and her mother had been committed to was sued on behalf of those who had been

As you can tell the mentally ill had little to no say in what happened to them. If you were considered “feeble minded” or promiscuous like Carrie, Emma, and Vivian you’re rights were taken away from you. I feel that the verdict of the case would have been completely different if there was a different judge on the court. Oliver Holmes was known for being a very eloquent man, with a minority view on things, he was very dominant and could easily convince the other justices to sway to his decision. His written decision was extremely rude and used brutal language toward Buck. If one of the other Justices would have spoken against Holmes, I feel that Carrie would not have been sterilized (Burrus). More research needed to be done on patients that were considered for sterilization. Others, like Carrie were young and had a whole life ahead of them. Women and men who were put into mental facilities for promiscuity should not have been there to begin with, and should certainly not be forced into sterilization. Sterilization was sometimes done quickly and incorrectly on patients causing future complications. Most sterilizations were also done without the patient's consent or knowledge. A patient's consent should always have been the main part of the sterilization. Once the sterilization was over the person’s life was changed forever. I feel that the Buck v Bell case had a lot of influence on today's society. I