Joseph4GI: CIRCUMCISION BOTCHES: Colombia and Malaysia

Colombian boy left in a vegetative state after a circumcision

It seems that recently, reports of circumcision botches are coming to light all over the world.

Just a few days ago, on January 17th, there was a report on a Colombian news show, 90 Minutos, about a child who was left in a vegetative state when he was circumcised 3 years ago.

The mother is trying to press charges on the doctor who has been since, nowhere to be found.

Not much detail is given about the boy's necessity to be circumcised, only that this was supposed to be an outpatient procedure, and that apparently, the doctor used too much anesthetic.

The YouTube video can be seen here:

It is not clear whether there was an actual medical indication, but given the recent history of circumcision, where doctors give phony excuses to circumcise healthy children, it may be possible that there was in fact none.

Another botch also made news reports earlier, this time in Malaysia.

According to Nation, 3 cases of botched circumcisions have come to light, and the Health Ministry is urging the child's parents to take the cases to court.

In South-East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, etc., both boys and girls are circumcised as a matter of religious course, as genital cutting is seen as religious sacrament there due Islam.

Unlike in America, boys in Muslim countries tend to be circumcised at later ages instead of as newborns.

According to one Dr. Subramaniam, "Hundreds of thousands of circumcisions were carried out every year in the country and that minor complications were bound to happen, but there were never any serious cases like these, even when traditional methods were widely used."

One of the victims, a 10-year-old boy, has to use a catheter and a urine bag after suffering severe damage to his penis. A portion of the boy’s private parts was severed by an assistant medical officer at a mass circumcision ceremony at a surau in Sungai Buloh on Nov 25.

The bleeding could not be stopped and the victim was rushed to Hospital Selayang.

The doctors were unable to reattach the head of the boy’s penis, which had already turned black.

The boy was then sent to a private hospital and underwent three surgeries, which were also unsuccessful.

In a different case, a nine-year-old boy had the glans of his penis severed during a circumcision at a private clinic in Jalan Ipoh on Dec 15.

And five days later, a 10-year-old boy lost the head of his penis as he was undergoing laser circumcision at a Taman Cheras Utama clinic.

The YouTube video for this report can be seen here:

It must be noted that both male and female circumcision are an ingrained part of the culture in South-East Asia.

These are cultures who, like America, should be used to this custom, and whose doctors, having done thousands of circumcisions, should be assumed to be well-trained.

In cases like these, circumcision advocates like to chant the old adage "Well if the circumcisions were performed by trained professionals, this wouldn't happen."

I don't think there could be any better trained professionals to do this than those who do it thousands of time for a living.

And they STILL happen.

It happens to trained doctors in America (The AAP gives a complication rate of 2%. What's 2% of 1.3 million babies a year?), it happens to Jewish mohels, it happens in the hospital, it happens when using the best equipment.

And the question must be repeated; how is this conscionable considering that circumcision is non-medical surgery, performed on healthy, non-consenting minors?

These are healthy children with no medical need for surgery we're talking about.

How is the complication rate anything above ZERO???

Instead of questioning the method, the persons who did it, where it was done, what setting, age, sex, WHATEVER, why aren't we questioning the need to circumcise ITSELF???

These children are going to suffer for the rest of their lives.

All for needless genital cutting.

Circumcision has risks.

The risks include infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhage and even death.

Are these worth it for non-medical surgery?

For "benefits" already easily attainable through non-surgical means?

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