FACEBOOK: Two Close Calls on my News Feed

Just posting the latest tragedies, or near-tragedies that surfaced on my Facebook news feed.

(Unless there is medical or clinical indication, all male infant circumcision is a tragedy.)

First up, another story where a child nearly bleeds to death. The child is put in the NICU and the doctors had to cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding.

Another child turns black and blue, and is given urine retention problems by his circumcision. Apparently, the boy's bladder had to be drained with a neonatal feeding tube as a catheter.

This happened at Dothan, Alabama.

The poster "doesn't know what they did to cause these issues" (Really? You don't think the fact that the child was needlessly circumcised had ANYTHING to do with it?), but apparently the child now has iatrogenically induced UTI at 4 days old.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I say these things every time I post tragic stories on here.

The risks of male infant circumcision include infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhage and even death.

Unless there is medical or clinical indication, circumcision is purely cosmetic, non-medical surgery.

Under any other circumstance, reaping profit from performing non-medical procedures on healthy, non-consenting minors constitutes medical fraud.

Being an elective, non-medical procedure, any risk is unconscionable.

In 2012, the AAP admitted in their circumcision policy statement that the true rate of circumcision risrks is unknown.

What I post here are only stories that have surfaced on Facebook, but doctors and hospitals are not required to report on adverse circumcision outcomes, doctors have financial incentives to misatribute deaths and complications due to circumcision to something else, and parents agree to be complicite to hide their shame.

The risks and complications of circumcision are real, and it should concern Americans that organizations like the AAP are not interested in documenting them.

List of Deaths and Complications Documented on This Blog:
FACEBOOK: Another Baby Fighting For His Life Post Circumcision

MADERA, CA: Another Circumcision Complication

CIRCUMCISION BOTCH: Another Post-Circumcision Hemorrhage Case Surfaces on Facebook

LAW SUIT: Child Loses "Significant Portion" of Penis During Circumcision

CIRCUMCISION BOTCHES: Colombia and Malaysia

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Russia

FACEBOOK: KENTUCKY - Botched Circumcision Gives Newborn Severe UTI

FACEBOOK: Circumcision Sends Another Child to NICU - This Time in LA

GEORGIA: Circumcision Sends a Baby to the NICU

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Italy

FACEBOOK NEWS FEED: A Complication and a Death

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Joseph4GI: The Circumcision Blame Game

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud

FACEBOOK: Two More Babies Nearly Succumb to Post Circumcision Hemorrhage

FACEBOOK: Another Circumcision Mishap - Baby Hemorrhaging After Circumcision

What Your Dr. Doesn't Know Could Hurt Your Child

FACEBOOK: Child in NICU After Lung Collapses During Circumcision

EMIRATES: Circumcision Claims Another Life

BabyCenter Keeping US Parents In the Dark About Circumcision

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Circumcision Claims Another Life

TEXAS: 'Nother Circumcision Botch

New York Herpes Circumcision Problem:
NYC: More Herpes Circumcision Cases Since de Blasio Lifted Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations

BUSTED: Agudath Israel of America's Antics Revealed

NEW STUDY: Ultra-Orthodox Mohels Don't Give Babies Herpes

NEW YORK: Two More Herpes Babies, One With HIV

NEW YORK: Metzitzah: Two mohelim stopped after babies get herpes

NEW YORK: Yet Another Herpes Baby

Rabbis Delay NYC's Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations - Meanwhile, in Israel...

While PACE Holds a Hearing on Circumcision, Another Baby Contracts Herpes in NYC

Israel Ahead of New York in Recommending Against Metzitzah B'Peh

New York: Oral Mohel Tests Positive for Herpes

Herpes Circumcision Babies: Another One? Geez!

Mohels Spreading Herpes: New York Looks the Other Way

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

Related Post:

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

RESEARCH: Male Infant Circumcision Named a Possible SIDS Factor

Intactivists have always known that death is one of the risks of circumcision, much to the chagrin of circumcision advocates who always try to minimize it, if not completely pretend like it's not even there.

The problem with coming up with an accurate number for the risk factor of death from circumcision is that no one is counting, and people have incentive, financial, religious, cultural or otherwise, to keep from counting.

Financial Incentive
1.3 million babies are circumcised annually, and it brings a pretty penny to doctors who perform it, and hospitals who provide male infant circumcision as a service.

Doctors can charge anywhere from $400.00 to $700.00, maybe even more per head, and, at least in Alaska, hospitals can charge up to $2,000.00 in fees.

A malpractice lawsuit for a botch or death due to circumcision would not only cost doctors and hospitals millions, it could mean that respected medical organizations like the AAP would be compelled to condemn the practice, which is such a relatively simple procedure and an easy money maker.

Doctors and hospitals are not required to release this information, and it's not like medical organizations, some with a majority of members who profit from circumcision, are demanding it either.

To cover their tracks, doctors and hospitals may attribute the death caused by a circumcision to secondary causes, such as "hemorrhage" or "septic shock."

Additionally, parents who suffer guilt and regret for signing the consent forms are easily complicit in keeping their child's death under wraps.

"It's difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." ~Upton Sinclair

Religious Conviction
Male infant circumcision is a closely safe-guarded possession in some religious communities, where the practice of male infant circumcision as a holy sacrament has been under attack for millennia.

Particularly in ultra-orthodox Jewish communities, members have been known to react with hostility when the practice and those who perform it come under scrutiny.

Particularly in New York, male infant circumcision as performed in ultra-orthodox Jewish community has been under the microscope after it has been discovered that mohels (ritual circumcisers) are spreading herpes to babies.

In ultra-orthodox Jewish circumcision, the ritual circumciser sucks the freshly circumcised child's penis directly with his mouth in a ritual procedure known as "metzitzah b'peh".

Some babies have died with herpes as the cause, and still many others have been infected.

When investigators have gone to find details, community members have been known to work together to protect the identities of those involved.

Fear of the Anti-Semite Card
As circumcision is the sensitive issue that it is, gathering data on adverse outcomes and effects of male infant circumcision could be ipso-facto be seen as "anti-Semitic" or "an attack on Judaism," so scientists and researchers may choose to ignore it in order to stay clear of controversy.

Instead of noting deaths and adverse outcomes, doctors and researchers may choose to say that circumcision is a "parental choice," shirking their onus of professional responsibility, and placing it on parents instead.

The recent publication of a research paper on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) factors in a medical journal might be a sign that times are changing, however.

Where No Researcher Has Gone Before
Whereas there have been a few attempts to come up with an estimate on deaths due to male infant circumcision, given the above factors, the numbers anyone can come up with are modest estimates at best.

And while most of these attempts merely attempt to count deaths due to circumcision,  in a recently published article, the authors make the bold move of going as far as to name male infant circumcision as a factor for SIDS.

Other factors, such as preterm birth, non-urgent pediatric surgeries and skin-breaking procedures are mentioned, but entire sections are dedicated to male infant circumcision.

I don't have the time to type a long, drawn-out post as I'd like to, so I'm just going to copy/paste relevant excerpts here.

From the abstract:

 We argue that the important characteristics of SIDS, namely male predominance (60:40), the significantly different SIDS rate among USA Hispanics (80% lower) compared to whites, 50% of cases occurring between 7.6 and 17.6 weeks after birth with only 10% after 24.7 weeks, and seasonal variation with most cases occurring during winter, are all associated with common environmental stressors, such as neonatal circumcision and seasonal illnesses.

From "Background"

Neonatal Circumcision

...

In North America, ~1.2 million male infants are circumcised every year (58) often within the first 2 days of life (59). Although not requiring general anesthesia, circumcision is an intensively painful procedure requiring adequate analgesia (60). Circumcision is associated with intraoperative and postoperative risks, including bleeding, shock, sepsis, circulatory shock, and hemorrhage (61–63) that can result in death (63, 64).

This part of the paper doesn't hold back and outright names the known risks and complications, complete with citations.

Infant deaths following religious neonatal circumcision have been known for at least two millennia (65). Talmud (the central text of Rabbinic Judaism) sages ruled in the first centuries A.D. that mothers with two children who have died following the surgery should receive an exemption from circumcising their infants. During the nineteenth century, developments in medical knowledge on one hand and the rise of Jewish “Enlightenment” on the other hand, brought many Jews to reject the authority of the Talmud and with that the practice of circumcision. A new wave of accusations toward Jewish circumcisers (mohels) and rabbis of infant deaths following circumcision soon appeared and prompted community leaders to appeal to the governing authorities to forbid this practice – efforts that were countered by rabbis’ threats to ban the admission of uncircumcised Jewish children from Jewish schools. The fierce arguments about the necessity of the procedure last to this day and led many Jews to opt their infants out of the procedure, including Theodor Herzl, one of the fathers of modern political Zionism (66).

Here, the authors don't shy away from talking about Judaism and death due to circumcision, even ritual circumcision as recorded in Jewish texts.

This is important, because often, Jewish advocates of circumcision like to say how much "safer" male infant circumcision is when a Jewish practitioner performs it.

Here we see that death due to circumcision is documented, and that children die, even when mohels are the ones performing it.

In the UK, Gairdner (67) estimated an annual rate of 16 per 100,000 circumcision-associated deaths for boys under 1-year old in a study that influenced the British government to exclude circumcision coverage from the National Health Service. Remarkably, the SIDS rates in the UK (0.38 per 1000) are much lower than in the USA (0.55 per 1000) (10) where most male infants are circumcised (58). Moreover, most of the deaths in the USA occur in non-Hispanic blacks (83% higher death rate compared with non-Hispanic whites). SIDS rates were 44% lower for Hispanics compared with non-Hispanic whites (68). Interestingly the circumcision rates among Hispanics are about half that of the two other groups (69).

Interesting observations!

This section goes into a lot more detail that I really don't have time to get into here (for this I encourage my readers to go read the paper itself right here), but I feel this last section warrants copy/pasting:

To date, circumcision in the USA, despite being the most common pediatric surgery, has not been subjected to the same systematic scientific scrutiny looking at immediate and delayed adverse effects, including pain [e.g., Ref. (112)], nor has circumcision status been included as part of a thorough SIDS investigation/registry or analyses [e.g., Ref. (2)] in spite of the male predominance of both neonatal circumcision and SIDS. However, based on assessment of risk of harms versus benefit, despite the latter including decreased risk of urinary tract infection (113), the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the British Medical Association, the Canadian Paediatric Society (87), and several west European medical societies have recommended against routine neonatal circumcision (114), arguing that the benefits of circumcision to children are minimal, non-existent, or outweighed by the risks, and that circumcision is thereby unwarranted. The AAP’s recommendation in favor of this routine (115) has been widely criticized [e.g., Ref. (116)].

This reiterates what I have been saying on my blog all along; at least in the US, no one wants to look at the adverse affects of circumcision and document them. Circumcision is often ignored as a factor in many studies.

We intactivists have been saying it all along, but there is not a single respected medical organization in the West that recommends male infant circumcision based on the current body of medical literature.

The author seems to be oblivious of the fact that the AAP didn't actually recommend male infant circumcision in their 2012 statement, instead saying that "the benefits are not great enough" to recommend male infant circumcision, and shirking professional responsibility on parents instead.

Before concluding, the authors make the three following testable predictions:

1. Neonatal Circumcision is a Risk Factor for SIDS
2. Neonatal Circumcision Accounts for a Large Fraction of the Gender Bias in SIDS
3. Circumcised Premature Infants are at High Risk

Conclusion
It's one thing to come up with a hypothesis and make predictions, and it's quite another to test it to see if the predictions are accurate or not.

Something tells me that there is still going to be some time before researchers actually go through testing this hypothesis, as they may yet feel inhibited by the implications of doing so.

No doubt there are going to be circumcision advocates that are already trying to attack this paper any which way possible, but I hope that the publication of this paper is only the beginning, and that more and more scientists get bold about calling out the elephant in the room that is circumcision, and about going through with testing hypotheses such as this one, and going through with publishing their collected data for all to see.


List of Deaths and Complications Documented on This Blog:
FACEBOOK: Another Baby Fighting For His Life Post Circumcision

MADERA, CA: Another Circumcision Complication

CIRCUMCISION BOTCH: Another Post-Circumcision Hemorrhage Case Surfaces on Facebook

LAW SUIT: Child Loses "Significant Portion" of Penis During Circumcision

CIRCUMCISION BOTCHES: Colombia and Malaysia

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Russia

FACEBOOK: KENTUCKY - Botched Circumcision Gives Newborn Severe UTI

FACEBOOK: Circumcision Sends Another Child to NICU - This Time in LA

GEORGIA: Circumcision Sends a Baby to the NICU

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Italy

FACEBOOK NEWS FEED: A Complication and a Death

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Joseph4GI: The Circumcision Blame Game

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud

FACEBOOK: Two More Babies Nearly Succumb to Post Circumcision Hemorrhage

FACEBOOK: Another Circumcision Mishap - Baby Hemorrhaging After Circumcision

What Your Dr. Doesn't Know Could Hurt Your Child

FACEBOOK: Child in NICU After Lung Collapses During Circumcision

EMIRATES: Circumcision Claims Another Life

BabyCenter Keeping US Parents In the Dark About Circumcision

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Circumcision Claims Another Life

TEXAS: 'Nother Circumcision Botch

 

New York Herpes Circumcision Problem:
NYC: More Herpes Circumcision Cases Since de Blasio Lifted Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations

BUSTED: Agudath Israel of America's Antics Revealed

NEW STUDY: Ultra-Orthodox Mohels Don't Give Babies Herpes

NEW YORK: Two More Herpes Babies, One With HIV

NEW YORK: Metzitzah: Two mohelim stopped after babies get herpes

NEW YORK: Yet Another Herpes Baby

Rabbis Delay NYC's Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations - Meanwhile, in Israel...

While PACE Holds a Hearing on Circumcision, Another Baby Contracts Herpes in NYC

Israel Ahead of New York in Recommending Against Metzitzah B'Peh

New York: Oral Mohel Tests Positive for Herpes

Herpes Circumcision Babies: Another One? Geez!

Mohels Spreading Herpes: New York Looks the Other Way

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

Related Posts:

Politically Correct Research: When Science, Morals and Political Agendas Collide

Another Circumcision Death - Wound Would Not Stop Bleeding

I had been trying to avoid Facebook.

I don't like being an intactivist.

Do you know this?

I wish the forced circumcision of healthy, non-consenting minors were recognized for the barbaric mutilation and the gross violation of basic human rights that it is.

I avoid my Facebook account because I know that the minute I sign on, my news feed is going to show that somewhere in the world, a child is suffering complications from this needless procedure.

At the end of this post, you can see all the cases I've documented on this blog.

And there are others.

There are others, but I've either been too busy to bother, or I'm just not on Facebook and I miss them.

I have a life, I need to get to work, I've got kids of my own to raise, and I can't dedicate as much time as I want to this cause.

Being an intactivist is hard work.

You have to see children suffer from complications, watch as parents mourn what was supposed to be one of the most joyful times in their lives.

And then, you have to watch as people dismiss the deaths and complications of circumcision, dismiss facts and information, have people tell you "Who are you to tell parents what to do?"

This.

This right here is why I "have the nerve" to have this blog, to speak out against what is in non-consenting individuals, male genital mutilation.

I had been studiously avoiding logging on to Facebook, but my phone tells me someone has messaged me, and so there I go checking it.

Ironically enough it's some woman trying to lecture me on how "uneducated" I am on the subject.

And before I can click on my private message icon, what do I see?

This.

The caption reads:

"The unexpected has happened!!!

A baby has died. I don't know how to take this.
His circumcision wouldn't stop bleeding. They went to the Beaumont ER they gave him meds and then sent home. THAT'S IT!!! Nothing else.

No parent should experience this pain ( and a hurricane/tropical storm). And I know that no one plans for a funeral when they have a new born.
I'm going to help financially with the services the best I can. The only way I know how to help lift some of the burden off of them.

Will you please pray for the family? This is a difficult time.

If you'd like to help with the financial burden please go here."

The link is to a YouCaring page, which can be accessed here as of 8-29-2017. Who knows when they will take it down.

I've taken a screen shot of it and am posting it here:

 The caption here reads:

"Baby Zackery was born August 17th, 2017. He passed away August 28 from what is thought to be due to complications with his circumcision but we will not know more until later. Our family needs help with funeral costs to put this sweet baby boy to rest as his parents don't possess the proper funds and we would like to help take this burden from them so they don't have to worry about how to afford a funeral as they are dealing with the loss of their precious baby boy. Any and all donations will be greatly appreciated and God bless everyone for their help."

I don't want to spend too long on this post.

I'll be repeating what I've posted on every other death/complication post.

The risks of male infant circumcision include infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhage and even death.

How is ANY risk conscionable for elective, cosmetic surgery?

Are parents being fully informed on this matter?

According to the 2012 AAP statement, the risks of male infant circumcision are unknown.

This is because hospitals are not required to release any information on adverse outcomes of circumcision. Doctors have incentive to attribute deaths due to circumcision to secondary causes of death, and parents are complicit in keeping deaths and complications under wraps.

That is until recently, where parents post their children's stories online.

With the advent of the internet, the risks and complications of male infant circumcision can no longer be ignored, and members of the AAP can no longer feign ignorance.

Members of the AAP, if the risks of male infant circumcision are unknown, WHY PRAY TELL AREN'T YOU INVESTIGATING???

How is a single death due to elective, cosmetic surgery concsionable?

In 2012, you reviewed the current body of medical literature and you could not commit to a recommendation based on it, because in your own words "the benefits of circumcision weren't great enough."

And yet, somehow, you expect parents, the great majority of who don't have a medical degree, to somehow arrive at a more reasonable conclusion.

At this point I must ask, what are you people at the AAP SMOKING???

Death is a risk of male infant circumcision.

This, and other children were needlessly killed by the elective, cosmetic, non-medical surgery.

WHY aren't doctors required to fully inform parents about this?

More importantly, without medical or clinical indication, how is it that doctors are able to get way with reaping profit from performing elective, cosmetic, non-medical surgery on a healthy, non-consenting minor, let alone pretend to be able to offer parents any kind of "choice" in this matter?

Reaping profit from performing elective, non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting individuals constitutes medical fraud in any other case.

Why is male infant genital mutilation the lone exception?

That doctors are able to reap profit at the expense of a child's basic human rights, even as children DIE is absolutely DESPICABLE.

WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO YOUR JOBS AND DEDICATE YOUR EXISTENCE TO THE HEALTH OF ALL CHILDREN???

AAP???

This child's blood, and the blood of other children before him is in YOUR hands.

List of Deaths and Complications Documented on This Blog:
FACEBOOK: Another Baby Fighting For His Life Post Circumcision

MADERA, CA: Another Circumcision Complication

CIRCUMCISION BOTCH: Another Post-Circumcision Hemorrhage Case Surfaces on Facebook

LAW SUIT: Child Loses "Significant Portion" of Penis During Circumcision

CIRCUMCISION BOTCHES: Colombia and Malaysia

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Russia

FACEBOOK: KENTUCKY - Botched Circumcision Gives Newborn Severe UTI

FACEBOOK: Circumcision Sends Another Child to NICU - This Time in LA

GEORGIA: Circumcision Sends a Baby to the NICU

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Italy

FACEBOOK NEWS FEED: A Complication and a Death

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Joseph4GI: The Circumcision Blame Game

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud

FACEBOOK: Two More Babies Nearly Succumb to Post Circumcision Hemorrhage

FACEBOOK: Another Circumcision Mishap - Baby Hemorrhaging After Circumcision

What Your Dr. Doesn't Know Could Hurt Your Child

FACEBOOK: Child in NICU After Lung Collapses During Circumcision

EMIRATES: Circumcision Claims Another Life

BabyCenter Keeping US Parents In the Dark About Circumcision

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Circumcision Claims Another Life

TEXAS: 'Nother Circumcision Botch

 

New York Herpes Circumcision Problem:
NYC: More Herpes Circumcision Cases Since de Blasio Lifted Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations

BUSTED: Agudath Israel of America's Antics Revealed

NEW STUDY: Ultra-Orthodox Mohels Don't Give Babies Herpes

NEW YORK: Two More Herpes Babies, One With HIV

NEW YORK: Metzitzah: Two mohelim stopped after babies get herpes

NEW YORK: Yet Another Herpes Baby

Rabbis Delay NYC's Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations - Meanwhile, in Israel...

While PACE Holds a Hearing on Circumcision, Another Baby Contracts Herpes in NYC

Israel Ahead of New York in Recommending Against Metzitzah B'Peh

New York: Oral Mohel Tests Positive for Herpes

Herpes Circumcision Babies: Another One? Geez!

Mohels Spreading Herpes: New York Looks the Other Way

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

Related Post:

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Russia

Circumcision claims yet another life. This time, it happened in Russia.

According to the Moscow Times, a 3-yo boy at Krasnoyarsk, Russia, died following a circumcision performed at home.

The child underwent a circumcision at home on Jan. 6, performed by a surgeon summoned by his mother. The boy became seriously ill, and his mother tried to treat her son with various medicines. The boy as never even taken to the hospital, and he died at home.

Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Anna Kuznetsova, says criminal charges should be brought against the parents of a three-year-old boy, and that they must be held accountable for his death, regardless of whatever religious reasons they had for circumcising him at home and denying him proper medical attention.

But Yulia Zimova, a member of a presidential council on family issues, says that criminal charges would be inappropriate, given that the deceased boy’s parents “have already been punished by fate.” (Aw, poor parents...)

Before attempting to dismiss this case "because it wasn't performed in a medical setting," I'd like to remind readers that children have died in the hospital or clinical setting.

And I'd like to remind readers that in most, if not all cases, there was no medical or clinical indication.

Death is a risk of male infant circumcision, whether performed by "trained professionals" or amateurs with box cutters.

For other cases that have made the news, see the related posts below.

These are cases that have surfaced; there will be other cases that have not made the news because doctors and parents are complicit in keeping them secret, and American medical organizations whose members profit from male infant circumcision, aren't interested in documenting male infant circumcision deaths.

Death is a risk of male infant circumcision.

Are parents being properly informed of this risk?

Related Posts:

FACEBOOK NEWS FEED: A Complication and a Death

MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

EMIRATES: Circumcision Claims Another Life

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Circumcision Claims Another Life

EMIRATES: Circumcision Claims Another Life

Saw this browsing through my Facebook news feed.

Baby dies after circumcision surgery

Health authorities probe case at Khorfakkan hospital

By: Staff
Published Thursday, July 21, 2016

 

A one-month-old Emirati boy died just after undergoing a circumcision operation at a government hospital in Khorfakkan, prompting the Ministry of Health to open an investigation into the case, a newspaper reported on Thursday.


Hamad Saeed, 23, said he took his son to the hospital for the surgery and waited for nearly two hours before the operation finished.


He told Emarat Al Youm daily that he saw his son carried out of the operation room covered with blood and that he was admitted to the intensive care unit.


“He was pale and my wife and I were much worried…I then heard the pediatrician arguing with the doctor who performed the surgery and realized that there is something wrong…10 minutes later, I was told my son is dead,” he said.


The paper said the Ministry of Health formed a committee to investigate the case and determine the cause of the baby’s death.


It quoted Saeed as saying he had reported the case to the prosecutor, who said that he would open a criminal case after receiving a coroner report.

 Original news article here. (Last accessed 7/23/2016)

Some may try to brush this child's death aside by blaming it on the physician; he should have done a better job. The circumcision didn't kill the child as much as the physician messed up. But here's an important question; was the surgery medically indicated? If there was no medical necessity, is it conscionable that the child was put at risk for death? When it comes to female circumcision, is it a matter of "physicians knowing how to perform the procedure well?" Were this any other surgery, the matter of medical indication would be immediately relevant.



Unless there is medical or clinical indication, circumcision is an elective, non-medical cosmetic procedure. The risks of male infant circumcision include infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhage, and even death. These risks, however minimal they may be, are very real, and are exemplified by stories like these.

It is difficult to calculate the risks for complications because doctors who perform circumcisions and hospitals where circumcisions are performed have financial incentive to minimize the risks, if they are to report them at all. Hospitals and doctors are not required to release information on the adverse effects of male infant circumcision.

Whatever the risks may be, given that male infant circumcision is elective procedure, any deaths or complications above zero is unconscionable.

Related Posts:

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves
 

Mogen Circumcision Clamp Manufacturers Face Civil Lawsuit

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Italy

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Circumcision Claims Another Life

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

Search Joseph4GI: Death-related posts

Facebook Chronicles: Mothers Struggle With Circumcision Problems - Another Child Dies

One of the most common excuses for male infant circumcision is that it's supposed to "prevent problems."

Well, recently, on my Facebook news feed I read about a mother who was struggling with problems that circumcision is supposed to prevent.

The irony is that circumcision is supposed to make a child's penis "easier to clean," and here we observe a situation where it's actually making it difficult.

Woah. It's "normal for it to hurt?"

Is crusty, smelly stuff supposed to cake around the child's penis too?

Unbelievable.

A child with normal, inviolate organs is easy to care for and needs no more care than cleaning the genital organs externally.

Are parents being made aware of this?

How come this mother is barely reading about this online?

Aren't the people who are supposed to be giving her "clear answers?"

Isn't this complication something she should have been made aware of BEFORE she decided to go through with the surgery?

A blue and purple penis is "normal?"

Um, this doesn't happen with normal, intact children.

These mothers want "no judgement" and "no bashing," but how exactly do you explain to them that these problems are caused by circumcision, and that they would have been avoided if they simply left their child alone, without hurting their feelings?

"No one wants advice - only corroboration."
~John Steinbeck

Many parenting groups on Facebook and elsewhere warn that people who "bash" and "harass" are automatically banned.  But sadly, dispensing factual, verifiable information constitutes "bashing" and "harassment," because it makes parents feel terrible for having made an irrevocable decision.

Yes, I'm sure other parents could give possible solutions to the problems presented here, but shouldn't other parents hear possible ways to avoid these problems?

So sad.

To prevent some parents from feeling guilty and "judged," factual and pertinent information parents need to hear is prohibited.

What a disservice.

These problems and more can be prevented if only parents knew of these risks, and that not circumcising is also an option.

And finally, yes, another death.

I'm not going to comment further on the last post.

I've already written a number of posts of deaths I read about on my Facebook news feed, so readers can search "death" up in the search bar, or click here if they want to read other posts I've written on the subject.

Conclusion
Circumcision is an elective, non-medical procedure.

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

Currently, American medical organizations minimize the risks, but a) hospitals aren't required to release this information, and b) there is financial incentive on the part of doctors, hospitals and the medical organizations to which they belong to minimize these risks.

You will only read about these on Facebook, because they rarely, if ever, make the news.

Death is a risk of circumcision.

Circumcision does not guarantee a problem-free penis.

As highlighted in these and other cases, circumcision may even cause the very problems it's meant to prevent.

Not circumcising is also an option; children with anatomically correct genitals require no special care.

70% of the world's men are not circumcised. Of the 30% that are, only about 1% were circumcised out of medical necessity. The great majority of circumcised males were circumcised out of religious or cultural custom.

Even in countries where circumcision is a norm, male infant circumcision, as it is performed in the US, is rare. The great majority of circumcised males in the world were circumcised at later ages. This means that these males make it past their early years of life without any "problems" the foreskin is said to cause.

Respected medical organizations around the globe do not recommend male infant circumcision based on the current body of medical literature.

The AAP inched very close to a recommendation, but couldn't commit to one in the end. Their 2012 statement was rejected by respected medical organizations in the rest of the world.

For American parents wishing to educate themselves on circumcision and not circumcising, it is advisable to look for resources outside of the United States, as those written by American doctors and medical organizations may be biased in favor of circumcision, and may be skewing, if not omitting information regarding care for circumcised and intact infants.

As can be observed, one of the mothers in a case above is searching for answers she should have had before making a decision.

Related Posts:

Joseph4GI: The "Mommy Page" Wars

Joseph4GI: GRANOLA BABIES: BIG MISTAKE

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

"I Did My Research" - The Quest for Scientific Vindication

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud

What Your Dr. Doesn't Know Could Hurt Your Child

OUT OF LINE: AAP Circumcision Policy Statement Formally Rejected

Mogen Circumcision Clamp Manufacturers Face Civil Lawsuit

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

LATEST FROM AFRICA: 2 Circumcision Initiates Die

Yearly, circumcision initiation rites happen all over Africa. Every year scores of men either die, or they lose their penises to gangrene, but for whatever reason, these deaths and loss of external genital organs in male initiates are overshadowed by female circumcision.

In a recent news article, the deaths of two initiates have been reported. (Link available here. Last accessed 6/22/2016) A list of articles in past years can be read here.

For whatever reason, human rights activists come down hard on female circumcision, but when it comes to male circumcision, there is a deafening silence.

In some newsreports, readers are supposed to take comfort in the fact that some very shoddy "studies" show that male circumcision "could" "reduce" HIV transmission by "as much as 60%."

So male circumcision should still happen, although it should be performed by medical professionals, although death and other complications still happen when medical professionals perform them.

I ask, would human rights groups stop decrying female circumcision if "research" could "prove" that female circumcision "could" reduce HIV transmission by some magical number like "60%?"

Or would they still be decrying it?

What if female circumcision could be made "quick and painless" with "no detriment to female sexuality?"

Would it still be viewed as a human rights violation?

A paper calling for a compromise procedure for females has recently been published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

The authors are actually coming out and admitting on a published journal that there are forms of female genital cutting that are less severe than male genital cutting as commonly practiced in the US and elsewhere.

There is a sexist, self-serving double-standard when it comes to publishing research on male and female circumcision. Whereas publishing "research" that claims that male circumcision is "harmless" if not "beneficial" is not a problem, publishing research that minimizes female circumcision or that it may even be beneficial, is.

Whereas "researchers" were eager to push the idea that "circumcision is a harmless intervention that could help prevent the spread of HIV," scholars discourage the publishing of research that would "play right into the hands of those who defend female genital cutting" and/or "encourage female genital mutilation."

It's not a problem if "research" gives the green light to tribal circumcisers of men to go ahead and perform circumcision on initiates, but it is a problem if research givesthe green light to tribal circumcisers of women.

Why is that?

Related Links:

MALAWI: USAID-Funded Program Kidnapping Children for Circumcision - Boy Loses Penis

FACEBOOK NEWS FEED: A Complication and a Death

MASS CIRCUMCISION CAMPAIGNS: The Emasculation and Harassment of Africa

Male Circumcision and HIV in Africa: EPIC FAIL

Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV

Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV II

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

JAMA: Lead Article is a "Study" on Bribing Men to Get Circumcised

AFRICA: Creating Circumcision "Volunteers"

FGM NEWS: Gynecologysts Urge a "Nick" as Compromise for FGM

Politically Correct Research: When Science, Morals and Political Agendas Collide

Male and Female Infant Circumcision: Which One is Worse?

Circumcision is Child Abuse: A Picture Essay

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Italy

Circumcision has claimed yet another child victim. It's all happened before, and until it is recognized for the barbaric genital mutilation it is, it will all happen again. But this time it happened in Italy.

I don't have time to make a long, detailed comment, so I'm just going to copy and paste the article verbatim. I'll provide a link to the original article here.

Baby dies in hospital after home circumcision

Doctor says 30-50% of Muslim circumcisions in Italy unauthorised

 

(ANSA) - Turin, May 30 - A one-month-old Ghanaian baby died in hospital on Monday, where he was brought by emergency services after suffering cardiac arrest following a home circumcision.
    The emergency call came from a building known as "Spazio Neruda" where hundreds of homeless or evicted families are squatting and where the boy's parents had brought him on Sunday evening and spent the night.
    "They circumcised their son yesterday, then they wrapped him with gauze and gave him paracetamol," said a Spazio Neruda resident.
 The mother has been reported to prosecutors for allegedly culpable homicide, ANSA sources said on Monday. The 35-year refugee, who has lived in Italy for five years, told investigators she gave the baby a 250mg dose of paracetamol - a dose only recommended for infants weighing over 12 kilos. The baby's father, a 33-year-old Ghanaian, has been tracked down but police are still trying to find the illegal 'doctor' who performed the circumcision.

    Mustafa Qaddurah, a pediatrician and councillor with the Islamic Cultural Centre of Rome, said Italy's national health system doesn't cover circumcisions performed for cultural, non-medical reasons.
    "That means you either go to a clinic, where it's expensive, or to these charlatans," Qaddurah said.
    He said an unauthorised circumcision costs about 30-50 euros.
    "According to our estimates, 30-40% of Muslims (living in Italy) prefer to have it done in their country of origin, but another 30-50% go to unauthorised personnel, who work in unsuitable places, with the result of killing babies or causing serious deformities, that we then see in our offices," he said.
    He said there were other similar deaths recently in Treviso and Puglia.

I can already imagine all the apologetics being thought up.

Is the solution to have male children circumcised by "trained medical professionals in a hospital setting, using sterile utensils and pain management?" Because the same could apply to female circumcision, and even so, children die. Keep in mind that this is medically unnecessary in a healthy, non-consenting child.

I'll say what I've always said: Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Whatever anyone has to say concerning male circumcision is true of female circumcision.

Any and everything that can be said.

Death is a risk of circumcision.

Death is a risk of circumcision.

How many times do I have to say it?

Death is a risk of circumcision.

I don't have time to write anymore for now.

I've said it all before.

Anyone who is interested could browse my past posts on the subject.

Related Posts:

FACEBOOK NEWS FEED: A Complication and a Death

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies

 

Circumcision Death: Another One Bites the Dust

Circumcision KILLS

CIRCUMCISION: The Silent Killer

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

CANADA: CPS Diverges from AAP on Infant Circumcision

CIRCUMCISION RISK: Two More Circumcision Botches

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Joseph4GI: The Circumcision Blame Game

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud

FACEBOOK NEWS FEED: A Complication and a Death

Circumcision horror stories are common on Facebook, it's too bad they never make mainstream media. I can only imagine what we do see is only a tip of the iceberg.

This was on my Facebook news feed just a few days ago:

Children bleeding uncontrollably is the most common story I see, usually a mother asking for "prayers" because her baby "won't stop bleeding."

In Africa, where circumcision is being pushed as a "safe" HIV "prevention", a 14-yo boy has died during the procedure.

And, as usual, his parents and others are trying to blame something else.

Read a news article about it here.

The fact of the matter is this; the child was alive and otherwise perfectly healthy, and not in need of surgery.

The "benefits" the surgery was supposed to give him were already affordable by less invasive, more effective means.

Had he not undergone this needles surgery, the child would still be alive.

This happened at a hospital setting; yearly, scores of African boys undergoing tribal initiation rites die following their circumcisions. Still others lose their penises to gangrene; others commit suicide.

The risks of circumcision include infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhaging and even death.

Without medical or clinical indication, how is it that doctors are performing non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting minors, let alone eliciting any kind of "decision" from parents?

Given that male infant circumcision is elective, non-medical surgery, how is it conscionable that healthy, non-consenting minors are being put at these risks?

How is it concsionable that any number of botches, complications and deaths is deemed "acceptable?"

These are circumcision cases that manage to surface on Facebook.

Consider that there are other cases which, for reasons of shame or protection, remain secret.

When are respected medical authorities going to recognize the forced circumcision of healthy, non-consenting minors for the needless, harmful, deadly, abuse and violation of basic human rights it is?

Related Posts:

Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV

Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV II

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies

Circumcision Death: Another One Bites the Dust

Circumcision KILLS

CIRCUMCISION: The Silent Killer

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

CANADA: CPS Diverges from AAP on Infant Circumcision

CIRCUMCISION RISK: Two More Circumcision Botches

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Joseph4GI: The Circumcision Blame Game

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Circumcision Claims Another Life

A child of four has died after being circumcised, and his parents are left searching for answers.

Below is the online news article translated from Spanish:

Child dies after being circumcised

A child died on Tuesday morning after being circumcised at the Maternal Infant Center. The 4-year-old Yeidy Ramírez Beato was son of Johanna Beato and Anyelo Ramírez.

The directors at the clinic located an Rosario Street still haven't found reasonable explanation as to what caused the death of the minor.

The child's body was taken to INACIF of Santiago to carry out an autopsy to determine the cause of the child's death. (As if this weren't immediately obvious?)

According to the police report and certificate issued by medical examiner Cinencio Uribe, the minor died after being operated by Dr. Nelson Aybar, and anesthesiologist Dr. Abrahán García Gómez.

The child's family told LosMocanos.com, that supposedly it's about medical malpractice, and they seek an explanation as to why their son died.

On the video, the mother was crying uncontrollably as she asked herself "Why my son?"

The child died after having been circumcised.

Hundreds of curious members of the press were inquiring over the sad tragedy, as one can see in the video.

Video uploaded on March 2, 2016

The question is, why was this child operated on?

What illness was the child suffering that he needed to be circumcised?

Was the child suffering a disease for which there was no other solution?

Or did doctors recommend this to the parents for supposed "medical benefits?"

Did the doctors tell the parents that their 4-year-old was suffering "phimosis?"

Were the risks of circumcision clearly explained to the child's parents?

If there was no medical indication, then clearly here, the doctors are to blame, for offering this "choice" to the child's parents.

Reaping profit from non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting individuals constitutes medical fraud. In children, clear child abuse.

The saddest part of this is that without clear medical or clinical indication, basically this child died in vain.

Had the child not been submitted to this needless procedure, he would still be alive.

Final Words
The foreskin is not a birth defect. Neither is it a congenital deformity or genetic anomaly akin to a 6th finger or a cleft. Neither is it a medical condition like a ruptured appendix or diseased gall bladder. Neither is it a dead part of the body, like the umbilical cord, hair, or fingernails.

The foreskin is not "extra skin." The foreskin is normal, natural, healthy, functioning tissue, present in all males at birth; it is as intrinsic to male genitalia as labia are to female genitalia.

Unless there is a medical or clinical indication, the circumcision of a healthy, non-consenting individuals is a deliberate wound; it is the destruction of normal, healthy tissue, the permanent disfigurement of normal, healthy organs, and by very definition, infant genital mutilation, and a violation of the most basic of human rights.

Without medical or clinical indication, doctors have absolutely no business performing surgery in healthy, non-consenting individuals, much less be eliciting any kind of "decision" from parents.

Circumcision has risks.

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

Death is a risk of circumcision.

How many times do I have to say this?

Death is a risk of circumcision.

Are parents being adequately informed about this risk?

Had this couple known about this risk, would they have changed their minds?

Death is a risk of circumcision.

Death is a risk of circumcision.

Are you listening AAP?

Death is a risk of circumcision.

Circumcision has claimed yet another child.

His blood is on the hands of the AAP and any other medical organization that dares parrot them.

Related Posts:

MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies

Circumcision Death: Another One Bites the Dust

Circumcision KILLS

CIRCUMCISION: The Silent Killer

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

CANADA: CPS Diverges from AAP on Infant Circumcision

CIRCUMCISION RISK: Two More Circumcision Botches

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Joseph4GI: The Circumcision Blame Game

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud