The body of a 9-week old was found, and the news report only briefly mentions that the medical examiners found that he died from a kidney infection that resulted from a botched circumcision.
Death is a risk from circumcision.
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact rate of deaths caused by circumcision because people have incentive to hide the fact.
At 1.3 million infant circumcisions a year, circumcision is a money-maker for pediatricians and OB/GYNs, so trade organizations such as the AAP and ACOG have incentive to hide or downplay deaths due to circumcision.
Doctors have been known to deliberately misattribute the death of a child caused by circumcision to secondary causes, such as "bleeding," "hemorrhage" or "septic shock," so when a child dies as a direct result of circumcision, it is rarely reported as such. Parents are usually complicit with the doctor because they feel just as guilty for agreeing to have the procedure done.
Circumcision is an important ritual for Jews and Muslims, and religious communities have been known to be complicit in hiding culprits whenever deaths due to circumcision arise.
Whether it be avoiding lawsuits, or protecting a sacred ritual, there is great incentive to hide or downplay deaths caused by circumcision, so it is difficult to know exactly how many newborns succumb to death caused by circumcision.
Here, we witness a rare instance in which a death caused by circumcision actually makes the news.
Notice how nonchalant and casual the reporting of this fact is.
Readers will gloss over this fact as if it were no big deal.
Circumcision has risks.
They include infection, partial or full ablation and even death.
Death is a risk of circumcision.
Because male infant circumcision is elective, non-medical surgery, this risk is unconscionable.
Is the AAP counting?
Because we are.
Death is a risk of circumcision.
Are American doctors properly warning parents of this risk?
Relevant Link:
The cause of death is likely to be one of the most common complications of circumcision -- meatal stenosis. Occurring ONLY in circumcised boys and men, meatal stenosis is the narrowing of the meatus (the opening of the urethra). Two possible causes are posited: (1) irritation of the glans because there's no foreskin to protect it; or (2) ischemia, due to removal of the frenulum and other tissue, causing disruption in blood flow and death to the tissue around the opening of the urethra.The only treatment for meatal stenosis is surgical re-opening of the closure with a scalpel. Obviously, if the meatus closes completely, the baby cannot urinate; if the parents don't realize what's going on, and don't take him for immediate medical care, he will die. Partial meatal stenosis affects an unknown percentage of boys and men of all ages. It often causes them to pee in two streams, or to pee slowly (and not be able to empty their bladders completely). Most men don't realize that what they're dealing with is a complication of circumcision. The way to totally prevent meatal stenosis is to stop circumcising boys.
ReplyDeleteJoseph, one correction. The news report is about the 9 week old baby who died following a severe beating by the father. What is mentioned incidentally is that the couple lost another baby one year before, and that other baby was the one that died from a circumcision.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, the one that died from the circumcision (Duane) would have remained in the shadows, hadn't his brother (Chance) been brutally killed by the father (and despised by the mother for not being Duane).