(CN) - A Florida woman claims in court that a Georgia doctor sterilized her without her consent.
In her federal lawsuit, Reshudia Keyria Ricks says was admitted to the Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Ga., on Dec. 16, 2013, where Dr. Lisa Williams Blake delivered her child by cesarean section.
After the delivery of Ricks' son, Blake "performed a tubal ligation procedure" -- a surgical sterilization procedure -- without the new mother's consent, the complaint says.
"Plaintiff Ricks did not and does not wish to be sterilized, did not consent orally to be sterilized, and did not consent in writing to be sterilized at any time prior to the tubal ligation procedure," the complaint says.
Furthermore, the complaint alleges, "there was no medically emergent need, circumstance, or requirement for the procedure to be performed at that time without the required statutory written consent."
Ricks seeks compensatory damages on claims of battery and negligence.
She is represented by John Steel, of Steel, Moss & Ebert, and Charles Brant, of Colom & Brant. Both firms are located in Atlanta.
Representatives of the defendants, Dr. Blake and the Northwest Georgia Medical Clinic, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Read the Top 8
Sign up for the Top 8, a roundup of the day's top stories delivered directly to your inbox Monday through Friday.
