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Court rules that mom can't sue over circumcision
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I've never had a boy child, so the whole question of whether or not to circumcise is something I've never had to deal with. For that, I am thankful because it seems like a rather difficult decision to have to make. But from what I understand, the circumcision decision is usually made well before the child is born and routinely done before the baby leaves the hospital.
But one mother in Minnesota claims the procedure was done on her newborn son without her consent and that it was done badly. Dawn Nelson filed a lawsuit, claiming that Dr. Steven Berestka of Unity Hospital removed "the most erogenous tissue" from her son's penis after he was born in January, 2001. Unfortunately, she did indicate on a prenatal form check-box that her baby should be circumcised and the lawsuit was therefore rejected by the the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Her lawyer, Zenas Baer, says that checking a box on a form before the child is even born isn't enough. "Isn't the mom allowed to change her mind?" he asks.
Another surgeon has since "performed a revision for cosmetic purposes" and Baer says the parents plan to appeal the ruling. In the meantime, Baer is out spreading the word against what he calls "the barbaric practice of routine infant male circumcision worldwide."
But one mother in Minnesota claims the procedure was done on her newborn son without her consent and that it was done badly. Dawn Nelson filed a lawsuit, claiming that Dr. Steven Berestka of Unity Hospital removed "the most erogenous tissue" from her son's penis after he was born in January, 2001. Unfortunately, she did indicate on a prenatal form check-box that her baby should be circumcised and the lawsuit was therefore rejected by the the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Her lawyer, Zenas Baer, says that checking a box on a form before the child is even born isn't enough. "Isn't the mom allowed to change her mind?" he asks.
Another surgeon has since "performed a revision for cosmetic purposes" and Baer says the parents plan to appeal the ruling. In the meantime, Baer is out spreading the word against what he calls "the barbaric practice of routine infant male circumcision worldwide."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
2-11-2008 @ 5:38PM
Amanda said...so, i'm confused...did they graft some elbow skin and create new foreskin??
what in the world makes her think... oh never mind.
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2-11-2008 @ 6:34PM
ninainindia said...She shouldn't have checked the box.
But that there even is such a box blows my mind.
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2-11-2008 @ 6:47PM
ame s said...ohohoh, I am shuddering at the very thought and being thankful both of my children are girls. The worst I've had to deal with so far was labial adhesions with my older daughter, and the male doctor who considered it perfectly okay to remedy her problem without any numbing cream. By the time I realized what he had planned to do, it was too late to jump across the exam table and stop him.
I can't imagine "checking the box" and allowing a doctor to slice a lil piece off of my male child! I know there are studies supposedly linking intact foreskin to increased risks of STDs and penis cancer, but still....Hard decision, glad I didn't have to make it!
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2-11-2008 @ 7:34PM
Nicola said...My son was born in Britain. Circumcision isn't even an option. Thank god. If you are Jewish, your Rabbi will perform the ritual mutilation. If your baby boy has a medical issue, then a medically necessary surgery will be performed. Otherwise, no boxes to check, no decisions to be made. They do not mutilate the genitals of our little boys. Barbaric, absolutely barbaric. And, yeah, I've heard the HIV research -- I'm sure that we could find plenty of similar support for female circumcision. Lets not go there please.
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2-11-2008 @ 7:46PM
Justin said...Barbaric is the best description of it for sure. There's breast cancer, why don't we just cut those off? People can catch HIV and other viruses from needles, why don't we just cut people's arms off? Seriously the people who do this are not mis-informed, they're downright ****ing stupid. I know of cases where it's needed for medical reasons and that I agree with, but even then there's usually ways around it. But the people who do it for "hygene" reasons and such need to have their arses kicked up to their necks. Why don't we just cut our hands off too, they might get dirty.
Barbaric morons!
(Note that this does not trash any religious use of it. While I don't agree with it, it's not my place to argue other people's beliefs either)
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2-11-2008 @ 7:58PM
isisaquaria said...First of all, I have girls...but I know at one time, in the US, you had to be such to join the military--and during the past-men didn't have an option to not join as they do today. I would rather do it when the memory will fade-then do it @18. i do not know if that is still the case, but it came up when preg w/ son between daughters--and we were going to(he lived only hrs)
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2-11-2008 @ 10:02PM
luluhart said...Being a new adoptive mom, I too had never seen an un-circumsized penis. Let me just tell you that not only did it look strange, it looked almost painful, and was the cause of numerous yeast infections in our infant son.
We made the tough decision to have him circumsized at 13 months old and haven't regretted it yet! And it *appears* we are done with the yeast infections!
www.brandnewmama.com
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2-12-2008 @ 12:11AM
Kelly said...Why do religious circumcisions get a free pass? Are they any less barbaric? I find myself looking down on them less myself because they are part of a long tradition but so are female circumcisions ...
I have had two girls but I was asked several times before the babies were born if I wanted my potential male baby circumcised. So I'm confused as to how this happened without the mom knowing.
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2-12-2008 @ 12:31AM
rebecca Biernesser said...what I think?
the woman should have been reading her forms...it seems like she started to read things and just started checking boxes without realizing what she checked.
Yes, you are asked several times when your son is born before and after. I was even asked before they took my son. But some mothers react differently to drugs (if they had any) and might have been asleep when they took the child and they went by the paperwork. it happens.
Bottom line......read everything you fill out and check the boxes you checked.
Oh, again...Just b/c some people choose to do something they believe is right does not make it wrong. ALL parents make different choices and the world would be boring if we all thought alike....
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2-12-2008 @ 3:05AM
Lacy said...sigh.
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2-12-2008 @ 8:13AM
bsherm said...Oh the horror... somehow I managed to live my whole live "mutilated" and even managed to father a child. /sarcasm
Seriously, I do not get the hub bub. It is especially distasteful when folks compare male with female circumcision, which is truly horrific. I have never regretted my parent's decision.
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2-12-2008 @ 10:28AM
Jessica said...I agree with bsherm, the comparison between male and female circumcision is ridiculous. Just b/c they have the same word in the title does not make them the same. It is almost offensive for people to make the comparison.
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2-12-2008 @ 3:02PM
Stephanie said...I have a 1 year old son, who I did not circumcise. However, I too, had signed papers previously saying it was OK, but told my OB that I might change my mind- I wanted to do research about it and then decide. He was on the ball enough to remember me saying that and asked before he went ahead with it. For me the deciding factor was that we could always change our mind down the road, and after 6 months my son could have full anesthia, while an infant can not. The infant forskin is still fused as well, so that is another area that I though would be more painful cut in a newborn than in an older boy/man. I looked at his tiny self in the bassinet and decided to wait, but now I am so used to how it looks that I will probably not do it unless it is an issue or problem for him down the road.
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2-12-2008 @ 3:04PM
Stephanie said...Sorry for the mis-spellings, I am typing with my son in my arms!
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2-15-2008 @ 4:02AM
Hugh said...The doctor never saw the box she checked (on her first prenatal visit, when she probably hadn't a clue what it was about) so that shouldn't have counted for anything, let alone informed consent.
Rebecca: "Just b/c some people choose to do something they believe is right does not make it wrong." No, what makes it wrong is that it removes an integral, healthy, pleasurable part of someone else's body, that stays removed when he's old enough to decide for himself that he'd rather have kept it. "ALL parents make different choices and the world would be boring if we all thought alike...." Genital cutting shouldn't be allowed just so as to make the world a more interesting place. There are much better ways of doing that.
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11-12-2008 @ 1:02AM
Jodi said...I am an RN in a US hosptial. A checkbox on a doctor's prenatal chart is in no way an "informed consent". No matter how you feel about infant circumcision (and I am personally against it), a checkbox does not fit the definition of informed consent. The consent is a legal document signed to protect both patient and hospital. The document must express things like the surgical procedure, any risks of said procedure, and it must be signed by the patient (or parent) and signed by a witness (usually a nurse or hospital employee).
"Informed" = lists the steps of procedure, risks, benefits, etc.
"Consent" = obtaining permission to operate.
A "check" on a list or in a box does not fit the legal description of informed or consent. If the facts of this story are correct, I find it very odd that a judge did not rule in favor of the parent. The hosptial and doctor are lucky they didn't lose millions. The poor baby loses either way - he's missing part of his penis and I assure you he never *consented* to the procedure!
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2-14-2008 @ 11:49PM
fredr said...This artical is about asking a doctor to circumcise her son against his wishes, and instead, the doctor mutilates the job, so the boy needs corective surgery to try and make it look like a clean cut.
They mutilated me, too. They cut too much skin off and cut my gee string nerves and caused me to grow up erectile dysfunctional, and messed up my pee hole so it's on permenent spray mode, and I didn't have enough shaft skin so my testicle got pulled up into my groin and my scrotum hair got pulled up onto my shaft, when i'd get an erection.
When mothers don't correctly clean their childs foreskin, they can cause them to get UTI's and yeast infections and use it as an excuse to have him circumcised. I hate mothers who circumcise.
It was the basic underlying reason for the sacrifice of Jesus, WW1, WW2, 9/11,...
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