NCAA basketball vasectomy promotions give male fans an excuse to call in sick

CLEVELAND - A MetroHealth Medical Center surgeon sees an increase of men scheduling vasectomies during the month of March.

Dr. Carvell Nguyen, a urologic surgeon, in the past, has seen an increase in an effort to attain a legitimate doctor's excuse for a few days rest that coincides with the college basketball tournament.

"The rationale being that men get two or three days off on doctor's orders after the vasectomy to recover. And if it just so happens that there are a few games on TV for the NCAA tournament, they would take advantage of that," Nguyen said.

ABCNews.com reported that a Cape Cod, Mass. clinic went so far as to offer a promotion with a free pizza, in addition to giving men an excuse to lounge under doctor's orders.

"This way they can put their feet up, watch a game and have a pizza,” said Urology Associates of Cape Cod's practice coordinator Evan Cohen.

The promotion was credited with a 22 percent increase in procedures last March.

"We want the patient to rest for two days after the procedure," Cohen said.

While Cleveland hospitals haven't used a promotion similar to Cape Cod clinics for vasectomies, they have seen men scheduling them without pizza to go with their surgery.

"We don't offer anything like that here at MetroHealth, but I think the purpose of these offices that do offer these promotions is to increase awareness of vasectomy and that it is a safe and effective means of contraception," Nguyen said.