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Miami Mom to Sue Hospital for Performing Unwanted Circumcision on Newborn
Filed under: In The News
Vera Delgado had made her wishes clear. The Miami mother says she told her doctors several times that she did not want Mario Viera, her newborn baby boy, circumcised.
Every man in her family is uncircumcised and she planned to follow family tradition, Delgado tells South Florida's CBS4. But, while being held in intensive care for 10 days, Mario, now 4 weeks old, was circumcised anyway, in the absence of his mother.
Now, Delgado says she's suing South Miami Hospital and the doctor for battery, Delgado's attorney, Spencer Aronfeld tells CBS.
"This is not malpractice. This is a battery," says Aronfeld. "They went and they did an unnecessary, unwanted procedure on this child without the parents' permission."
When the error was discovered, the hospital released this statement: "The baby's circumcision was an unfortunate mistake caused by a misread consent form. As soon as the error was discovered, the doctor and nurses let the family know what had occurred. We also immediately implemented new processes to ensure this mistake will not occur again. The procedure itself was performed following appropriate surgical guidelines and the baby didn't have any complications. Nevertheless, we're all deeply sorry that this happened."
"I know they apologized and everything," Degado tells the station, "but it's done, the damage is done."
Related: CDC to Release Circumcision Recommendations
Click here to watch the family's explanation of what happened.
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ReaderComments (Page 4 of 14)
9-15-2010 @ 6:51AM
Kara said...Yes they are making a lot of money off of circumcisions. Last year when I had my son the dr. charged $350 for this 10 minute procedure. The nursery charged $600 a day even though I chose not to use the nursery, he stayed in my room. It is all about making money. If you take the time to look at your itemized bill they charge you for every little thing.
9-15-2010 @ 7:28AM
lori said...She signed the consent which is a legally binding document. She is just looking for a quick buck!!
9-15-2010 @ 8:42AM
Pat said...South Fl. - medicaid pays for childbirth and they don't pay the same as regular insurance, I doubt anyone makes a profit.
9-14-2010 @ 9:15AM
Jen said...The average OB charges approximately 150,000 dollars a year for the circumcisions they preform. They pocket about 50,000 of that for themselves.
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9-14-2010 @ 2:53AM
William said...Circumcision is genital mutilation perpetuated by unethical, criminal doctors and ignorant, selfish parents who believe a male child's genitals are superficial objects, property, to be modified at their will.
Take your child to the doctor and ask the doctor to amputate any other body part and you could very well get arrested for child abuse. The fact that the only exception to this law, the only body part not protected, is a baby boy's penis is horrific.
How is it that girls have laws protecting their genital integrity yet boys do not have equal protections? American laws of this fashion are in violation of the constitution and create separate classes of citizens on the basis of sex.
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9-14-2010 @ 11:38PM
erica said...I think your crazy! Its for health reasons and no other. I think your going way out of line, its not anything like taking a limb! Its striclty to keep down infections!! which if u havent noticed america is full of these days!
9-15-2010 @ 10:58AM
mary said...William......Maybe you should get on the next plane out of here. I doubt the U.S. will miss you.
9-14-2010 @ 8:12AM
TTREXXX said...JUST BECAUSE MOM LIKES TO SKIN THE SNAKE BACK..LOL
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9-15-2010 @ 5:17AM
Hugh said...@erica: "it's not anything like taking a limb!" No, but it's very like taking an earlobe, and that would be illegal. "Its striclty to keep down infections!! which if u havent noticed america is full of these days!" America is also full of circumcised men - while the STD rate in Scandinavia, where circumcision is almost unknown, is much less. Far from being strictly anything, circumcision is done for literally hundreds of reasons (there is a list online) many of them utterly crackpot. It is a "cure" looking for a disease.
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9-15-2010 @ 6:28AM
lee said...so she prefers to leave him with a penis that is not very clean, and looks defromed... get over it and thank the hospital, they did your kid a favor
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9-15-2010 @ 6:30AM
lee said...that's an ugly baby... they did him a favor
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9-15-2010 @ 6:31AM
allyndp said...I just googled the term circumcision medical expert opinion and found that the experts reccomend it. Extreme views are those ofanti circ. proponents. Males are notoriously dirty. Men wash thier hand less frequently than females even with the flu avoidance reccomendations. Taking care of business in the private area is no exception.
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9-15-2010 @ 6:52AM
curvynsweet said...The article doesn't say WHO misread the consent form, it simply says "a misread consent form". Unfortunately, It was probably a nurse, or a unit secretary or even a doctor who misread the form. Do you realize how many foreigners we have in the medical field who can barely speak or read English? There are so many it's scary. I just went through a case of a foreign nurse who couldn't speak English putting the wrong medication on wounds on my 90 year old great uncle. When I spoke with them, I was appalled that they didn't understand me and had no idea what they were doing.
I am a nurse with 21 years of ICU experience, so, I've seen the problems of "miscommunication" many, many times.
The woman has every right to be upset and sue.
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9-15-2010 @ 6:48AM
S said...Dr. Sunshine, the hospital admitted THEY had made the mistake. You assumed the mother was at fault. Why? She speaks good English. I went back and listened to the video and it's pretty clear the Miami hospital KNEW they made the mistake and once they realized it, apologized, hoping no further action would be taken. But good bedside manner (in the hope a lawsuit would be avoided) is no substitute for good medicine and in this case, I think you're wrong.
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9-15-2010 @ 7:04AM
Ms. Renee said...What about the fact that the baby was in intensive care? Shouldn't THAT, alone, have told the staff that it was inappropriate, at least for that time???
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9-15-2010 @ 7:05AM
wildchildintn said...My son is now 14 years old, but when he was born, I did not have him circumcised. When the nurse brought me the consent form, I told her that I did not want him to be circumcised. She then left the room and when she came back, she had the doctor with her. He spent over 10 minutes telling me why I should have the procedure done. They even had the nerve to ask me why I wasn't allowing them to do it! Later that day, a different nurse came to get my son to perform the procedure. I quickly let them know that my son was NOT to be circumcised...and that they need not ask again. I felt like I was being harrassed because of my choice. My son was told when he was young about not being circumcised, and he is happy about it. Some of his friends are, and some aren't, but he has never been made fun of or had any health issues.
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9-15-2010 @ 7:34AM
lori said...Kara,
Your ignorance of medical economics is PAINFUL....people misues the system...use the ED as a PCP ....Medicaid reimbursement is so low that hospitals have to make up the money somewhere....paying for staff, equipment etc.. is extremely costly....and a good percentage (and growing) of our population gets those services for free.....tell women on Medicaid to stop having children they can not afford and don't pay for to stop abusing the system and we will all see out medical costs decrease.....
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9-15-2010 @ 7:47AM
Tami said...who wouldnt want their child circumsized anyway? THAT IS DISGUSTING. Do you know how many boys get infections from not being clean or how many woman get problems because of the MAN not circumsized being CLEAN!!!!!! GROSS
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9-15-2010 @ 11:19AM
Bonbon said...Tami, I think your comment was unnecessary. I have been with my (uncircumcised) husband for almost 20 years and he is very clean, does not look deformed and never had any infections OR given me any.
Some people here post the most ridiculous comments.
9-15-2010 @ 7:50AM
Val said...What if this was a Jewish family who planned a Briss (baby gets circumcised during a special ceremoy when he is 8 days old) and now there were deprived? The baby would have to be pricked again by the Rabbi just for ceremony sake. She has every right to sue the hospital - they ignored her instruction.
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