Dr. Ronald Weiss, Ottawa's 'Wayne Gretzky' of vasectomies, dies
CTV
Dr. Ronald Weiss, who performed nearly 60,000 vasectomies on Ottawa men, establishing him as the "Wayne Gretzky" of the procedure, has died.
Dr. Ronald Weiss, an Ottawa doctor whose passionate and lengthy medical career made him the "Wayne Gretzky" of vasectomies, has died.
Weiss died peacefully on Oct. 29 at his home in Toronto surrounded by his family after he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2020.
He was 68.
Originally from Montreal, Weiss spent his career in Ottawa and introduced the no-scalpel, needle-free vasectomy to Canada in 1992, advancing male contraception nationally and worldwide. In 2002, he developed and refined the no-needle jet injector method of local anesthesia.
"You have a procedure that literally takes minutes," Weiss said in a 2019 interview with CTV News.
"It's painless, has a low rate of complication and is the most effective form of birth control. Men are stepping up to the plate."
Weiss performed just under 60,000 vasectomies or about 70 per week at his home office on Clemow Avenue in Ottawa before retiring in 2021 and moving to Toronto to be closer to his children and grandchildren.
