THE VASECTOMIST

DR DICK BEATTY

Intro to The Doctor

While a vasectomy might initially seem a little daunting, Dr. Dick Beatty actively promotes it as an inherently positive experience.The core philosophy driving his practice is to ensure every patient is satisfied with their experience. 

The procedure is a significant milestone, creating an opportunity to chat about family, work, and life.

Known for his sense of humour and an informal yet professional approach, patients often  express sentiments afterwards, such as “that was easy.”

Dr Dick Beatty side photo

Professional Background

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Dual qualified MRCP (UK) FRACGP

FSRH

FSRH Special Skills in Vasectomy (UK)

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Upskilled to Vasectomy open-ended (USA)

Doctor and a graph indicating growth - suggesting experience

Exclusively focuses on vasectomies

AHPRA Specialist registration, including his registered pseudonym, Dr Richard ‘Dick’ Beatty: MED0001798452

Vasectomy was the natural partner to his interest in Andrology / men’s health, resulting in his initial training in the UK (the FSRH Special Skills Module Certificate in Vasectomy.

Surgical technique was refined under Dr Laurel Spooner, the UK’s ‘mother of vasectomy’, and Dr Dough Stein, The Vasectomist who starred in the movie ‘The Vasectomist.’

His Practice

Dr. Beatty concentrates solely on vasectomies. Indeed, he is among the few Australian doctors responsible for the majority of vasectomies performed in the country. His vasectomy practice spans five locations in Southeast Queensland, operating five days a week

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vasectomies / week

Considerable experience allows fluent conversation whilst handling a range of technical challenges that present on a regular basis, including high testes, tubes that are thin or non-palpable, adherent fascia, thin fascia, and bleeding.

Post Vasectomy Audit

Quality and Outcomes

Post-Vasectomy data is collected by the practice as a part of a comprehensive, continuous quality improvement. Three methods of data collection are incorporated into his practice:

  • An anonymous survey two weeks after the procedure – to provide feedback on the overall experience (pain, satisfaction etc)
  • Results of the post-vasectomy sample (whether it has worked or not)
  • Contact with the doctor after the procedure. Each significant contact and outcome is logged.

Caution is required when comparing one doctor with another. Why?

  • Diagnosis of complications is not an absolute science. For example, infection is usually assumed rather than proven.
  • Patients with challenging anatomy, such as very elevated weight or poorly controlled diabetes, are likelier to experience haematoma or infection. These risk factors vary by geography, particularly when comparing one country with another.
  • Individual doctors will have their threshold of technical difficulty, above which they won’t proceed with the vasectomy. Taken to the extreme, a particular doctor may have a higher population of men who are technically challenging, yet be more willing to do these procedures.

However, medical audit is a key requirement for doctors performing vasectomy where complications are rare but do happen

Complication Rates

Following vasectomy at our clinic

Infection after Vasectomy

Infection rates from the last 5,000 procedures: A ‘good going’ infection, requiring intravenous antibiotics, occurs in less than 1 in 1,000 vasectomies. Two abscesses have been drained in the past 5,000 vasectomies. Rate of Oral antibiotic prescribing approximately 1 in 300 and reflects doctor-patient risk profile, noting that inflammation a few days after the procedure is not typically caused by infection.

Haematoma after Vasectomy

Haematoma (bleeding) rate from the last 3,000 procedures: around 1 in 500. Severe Haematoma is < 1 in 1,000.

Failure after Vasectomy

Approximately one-third of men do not do the post-vasectomy test, so deriving the failure rate from the total number of vasectomies would ‘look good’ but be misleading. 

Therefore, the rate of failure (recanalization) should be calculated from the results of the post-vasectomy tests, and not from the total number of vasectomies.

1 failure in 1,000 for the past 5,000 test results, emphasizing the need for continuing contraception until getting the all-clear from the post-vasectomy test.

Pain after vasectomy

Pain after 3 months affects around 1% of patients.

Pain experienced in the first two weeks is documented by the post-vasectomy survey.

Doctor drawing vasectomy technique, with glasses, pens, computer - suggesting professionalism.

Professional ethos

Dr. Beatty blends physical techniques with an approachable conversational style for patient comfort.

Committed to excellence, he emphasizes audit and data analysis, ensuring the highest standards in vasectomy procedures and patient care.

A bit about Me

  • Married to an Australian >25 years
  • Moved from The UK to Australia in 2013
  • Lives in Brisbane Bayside with his family
  • Plays the keyboard in his spare time
Person holding a tablet that has loaded the home page of thevasectomist.com.au website
Surgical clinic

The Company

The Company details are:

The Vasectomist Pty Ltd (ACN 167335873)

The Vasectomist (ABN 41 167 335 873)

The team comprises Dr Dick Beatty, Cassie (manager), Katie and Kasey.

Technique & Talking

  • Vasectomy is ‘very very doable’ with local anaesthetic
  • Needle-phobics and Vasecto-phobics are welcome!
  • Relaxation, chat, music and/or humour goes a long way.