alternative surgical procedure to having a "barbaric'' hysterectomy.

Mrs. Simone Barton, who suffers from painful endometriosis, said last night she believed she had finally secured coverage for pelvic laser surgery.

She met yesterday with Colonial boss Mr. Alan Peacock at his request.

Mr. Peacock told her the company, after making further inquiries, would now probably pay for the laser surgery although she must pay the first $1,000, she said.

"They said they will cover it but it is pending further homework,'' she said.

Colonial wanted to make sure there was no alternative cure to laser surgery available locally, she said.

When contacted, Mr. Peacock didn't concede the company had agreed to pay for the laser surgery. However, he said, "We had a fruitful and interesting discussion. There are some issues outstanding and I have appointed a team to follow up on them. We expect the issues to be resolved in the next couple of days.'' The issues concerned "the extent of treatments available locally,'' he said, adding it had been a complex case.

Mrs. Barton said she believed Colonial's refusal to cover the operation, which involves zapping misplaced uterine tissue rather than removing a woman's reproductive organs which "amounts to female castration,'' may have arisen from a misunderstanding.

Ironically, she claimed a female nurse who advises the company on medical insurance claims had wrongfully told it that a laparotomy was an alternative to an hysterectomy and was also available locally.

But Mrs. Barton said she had already had the procedure and it was not a cure, but a band-aid treatment, like the medicine she was on.

She said she was happy to pay the first $1,000 of the $16,000 operation and was thankful to Mr. Peacock for clearing up the matter.

Mrs. Barton had told The Royal Gazette that Colonial was forcing her to have a "barbaric'' hysterectomy by refusing to pay fully for a fairly new laser treatment that was no longer consider experimental.

The hotel worker said she had battled with Colonial for more than a year for coverage for pelvic video-laseroscopy which is not done locally.

Apart from taking away a woman's ability to bear children and causing a major scar, "a barrage of problems'' including facial hair were associated with hysterectomies, which were done at "an alarming rate'' in Bermuda, she claimed.

Colonial was offering "100 percent of the bill up to the Bermuda fee schedule for that procedure,'' she said. However, the cost of a hysterectomy was $3,000 compared to $16,000 for the laser option and she simply could not afford the remaining $13,000 herself.