A. Any date before the stated date of delivery. Here is a quote from the Federal Register, November 8, 1978: “An individual may consent to be sterilized at the time of a premature delivery or emergency abdominal surgery, if at least 72 hours have passed since he or she gave informed consent for the sterilization. In the case of premature delivery, the informed consent must have been given at least 30 days before the expected date of delivery.” If you invoke the premature delivery clause you may want to document your rationale in a legible note on the sterilization or in a progress note. The due date should be assigned in good faith, i.e. 30 days before a due date based on reasonable evidence available at the time. This definition of prematurity is different from the perinatalogist’s definition of < 37 weeks.