Mass. clinic offers free pizza for vasectomy during March Madness
(CBS/AP) If you're considering a vasectomy, and happen to like pizza and basketball, a Massachusetts urology clinic has an offer for you.
Urology Associates of Cape Cod says it's offering a free pizza to vasectomy patients during March Madness. An administrator with the group says it's a lighthearted way to raise awareness about the procedure and drum up business.
Evan Cohen of the clinic told the Cape Cod Times that getting a vasectomy during the NCAA basketball tournament is the perfect time because typically a day or two of recovery is needed following the operation, so it gives patients an excuse to lie on the couch and watch hoops.
A commercial promoting the deal asks the question, "Hey guys! Want to watch the college basketball tournament guilt-free? You know you've been thinking about a vasectomy, anyway. Now's the time to get it done."
Dr. Evangelos Geraniotis, a urologist at the practice with offices in Hyannis, Sandwich and Nantucket, told the Times, "It's one of the easiest and less-stressful forms of birth control."
A vasectomy is a surgical procedure in men that makes him sterile, thereby preventing pregnancy in women. It's performed by cutting the vas deferens tube in each testicle, where sperm typically passes through to form semen. A "no-scalpel vasectomy" relies on small puncture holes that don't need stitches. Recovery takes about a week.
This clinic is certainty not the first to promote the procedure during the yearly tournament. During last year's NCAA tournament, an Iowa clinic also encouraged vasectomies, CBS News reported, with an ad that read at the time, ""After your vasectomy: Stay on couch. 32 games in two days. Return to work on Monday."
USA Today reports a clinic in Oregon has a "Snip City" March Madness campaign where they give men a "recovery kit" that includes a t-shirt, 3D glasses, a copy of Sports Illustrated, and a cooler.
Doctors from the Cleveland Clinic told the Detroit Free Press that vasectomy rates have increased at their hospital 50 percent during March Madness, with patients saying they timed their preocedure to take off work during the tournament.
WebMD has more on vasectomies.
Here's a video on the controversial campaign from the Cape Cod Times: