THE BIOETHICS OF THE CIRCUMCISION OF MALE CHILDREN.

The Bioethics of the Circumcision of Male Children.

Human Rights.

International human rights law has profoundly transformed medical ethics.

This page, therefore, indexes human rights instruments in addition to medical ethics documents.

The Physician's Oath of the World Medical Association requires doctors to use their medical knowledge in compliance with "the laws of humanity."

The codes of medical ethics of Australia, Canada, Norway, and the United States  all require doctors to respect the human rights of patients.

The United Kingdom makes respect for the human rights of patients a legal requirement by the Human Rights Act 1998.
Children enjoy certain human rights (including the right to special protection) under general human rights instruments.

They also enjoy additional protections under special instruments related to childhood.***

The UN Commission on the former Yugoslavia defines circumcision as sexual assault and a human rights violation.

In Article 24.3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child the phrase, "traditional procedures prejudicial to the health of children," refers to the practice of circumcision.

The circumcision of male children, therefore, violates numerous provisions of various international human rights instruments, and must be considered unethical medical practice.

Doctors Opposing Circumcision has released a detailed report on human rights and the circumcision of children.

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See ‘Attorneys for the Rights of the Child’ for a table of human rights that are violated by circumcision of male children.
...  http://www.arclaw.org/#HR%20Chart   

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http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/ 
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SPECIALIZED TISSUE OF THE PENIS.

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FUNCTION OF THE FORESKIN.

FUNCTION OF THE FORESKIN.

The foreskin occupies a prominent position on an important organ.
The foreskin’s location and structure indicate that it is the most important sensory tissue of the penis.
Its persistence over millions of years suggests that it has played a role in the propagation of the species.

A well-integrated organ...

Structurally, the penis is highly integrated.
The glans, foreskin and skin of the penile shaft function as a single unit, not as a collection of separate parts with entirely different functions.
The functions of the glans and foreskin are similar, and overlapping, but come fully into their own at different times during intercourse.

The various parts of the penis, including the foreskin, form a functional whole.

The foreskin is the primary sensory tissue of the penis.

The ridged band of the foreskin is built to trigger orgasm and ejaculation.

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http://research.cirp.org/func1.html 

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RIDICULOUS CIRCUMCISION EUPHEMISM.

Dr. Limakatso Lebina's Ridiculous Circumcision Euphemism.

Anyone familiar with the way voluntary, adult male circumcision is being promoted as a way to reduce the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission in high-risk populations already knows how it’s promoted.
The brochure excludes context-specific qualifiers.
That mouthful in the first sentence is always shortened to “circumcision reduces the risk of HIV”, even though that broad statement isn’t supported by the studies.  In addition, voluntary, adult male circumcision loses words over time. Adult was the first word to go.
Voluntary is still used, but that word doesn’t mean what it’s used to represent. Consent must only come from the patient when the circumcision is non-therapeutic.
Absent that consent, the surgery shouldn’t be imposed on a healthy minor. In a discrediting move, no one adheres to that. It took six days from the 2006 release of the major HIV study on voluntary, adult circumcision in Africa for the U.N. to propose targeting infants first among all males in HIV-ravaged parts of Africa.
Perpetuating circumcision via physical indoctrination is the new standard.  Voluntary disappeared a long time ago as anything more than a marketing word.  I do not wish to suggest I think this is a conspiracy.
Public health officials believe they are acting nobly.  A well-meaning focus on one’s own preferences explains this at least as well.
We must do something to reduce HIV. Circumcision is something. Therefore, we should circumcise. That’s bad logic, and relies too heavily on the nonsensical idea that someone happy with being circumcised proves everyone will be happy being circumcised.
It treats the individual as a tool to achieve some public goal.
That’s mistaken but it seems rooted in good intentions.
Now, knowing all of this, I’m difficult to surprise with how public health officials promote circumcision. I expect dumb, offensive strategies.

 “Communities must encourage men aged from 15 to 45 to come to this new clinic for circumcision.” A newborn male is not a man.

Rather than “voluntary” male circumcision, we have a “love cut”.
This is no different than asking opponents “why do you want people to get HIV?,” as if one can’t be opposed to both non-voluntary forced circumcision and the transmission of HIV.
Here, Dr. Lebina implies that an intact man who won’t have himself circumcised doesn’t love his partner as much as someone who would have himself circumcised.
It’s preposterous. It also encourages parents to circumcise their sons because they love them.   That’s twisted. Circumcision is not a gift.

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http://www.chooseintact.com/2013/02/11/dr-limakatso-lebinas-ridiculous-circumcision-euphemism/ 

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BABY BOY'S PENIS SEVERED.

Rabbi sued for accidentally SEVERING
newborn baby boy's penis during a circumcision.

A rabbi from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is being sued for severing a newborn baby's penis during a botched Bris ceremony.

The newborn baby boy had to be rushed to Children's Hospital where doctors performed an emergency micro-surgery to reattach the dismembered penis.

CBS reported that the boy needed six blood transfusions and was hospitalized for two months. The delicate surgery took about eight hours long.'There’s virtually no regulation of this any place in the United States that I know of,' Llewellyn said.

'I think the government probably should require some sort of training if this is going to be done.'

'Your average pediatric urologist probably spends about 20 percent of his or her time repairing children who have been circumcised,' Llewellyn told CBS.

 

 

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2530755/Jewish-Rabbi-sued-accidentally-SEVERING-newborn-baby-boys-penis-Bris-Ceremony.html 

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AIDS CIRCUMCISION FALLACY.

AIDS CIRCUMCISION FALLACY.

Dr. Dean Edell discusses the misleading and unsound arguments in the current drive to circumcise Africa.



[Video - 6mins]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlsUg0sdAtE 

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COMPLICATIONS OF CIRCUMCISION.

COMPLICATIONS OF CIRCUMCISION.

With any procedure, it is important to know what complications are possible. Not only does this knowledge guide technique (to minimize the possibility of a poor outcome), but it also allows for a more informed discussion with parents who are considering circumcision for their son and permits improved recognition of problems if and when they occur.

 

• Bleeding
• Infection
• Insufficient foreskin removed
• Excessive foreskin removed
• Adhesions/ Skin bridges
• Inclusion cysts
• Abnormal healing
• Meatitis
• Meatal stenosis
• Urinary retention
• Phimosis
• Chordee
• Hypospadias
• Epispadias
• Urethrocutaneous fistula
• Necrosis of the penis
• Amputation of the glans
• Death

 

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http://newborns.stanford.edu/CircComplications.html 

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MALE CIRCUMCISION IN THE U.S.A.

MALE CIRCUMCISION IN THE USA:
A HUMAN RIGHTS PRIMER.

The American medical establishment has promoted male circumcision as a preventative measure for an astonishing array of pathologies, ranging from masturbatory insanity, moral laxity, aesthetics and hygiene, to headache, tuberculosis, rheumatism, hydrocephalus, epilepsy, paralysis, alcoholism, near-sightedness, rectal prolapse, hernia, gout, clubfoot, urinary tract infections, phimosis, cancer of the penis, cancer of the cervix, syphillis and AIDS. 
But the only rationale which has clear, well established scientific support is the one originally and openly used by the medical establishment when medical circumcision was introduced as a "public health" measure in the Victorian era.

That is, to punish and control the sexuality of male children.
Victorian doctors knew something that modern medicine has chosen to ignore: the foreskin is at the heart of male sexuality.

A typical western medical circumcision results in the loss of approximately 1/2 of the total surface area of the penis and between 50 and 80% or more of its erogenous sexual nerves, including:

• The Taylor "ridged band" [sometimes called the "frenar band"], the primary erogenous zone of the male body. This unique, highly specialized and exquisitely sensitive structure is equipped with soft ridges designed by nature to stimulate the female's inner labia and G-spot during intercourse.
  
• The frenulum, the highly erogenous V-shaped tethering structure on the underside of the head of the penis.
  
• Between 10,000 and 20,000 specialized erotogenic nerve endings of several types, which can feel slight variations in pressure and stretching, subtle changes in temperature, and fine gradations in texture.
  
• Thousands of coiled fine-touch receptors called Meissner's corpuscles, which are also found in the fingertips.

Also lost are:

• The foreskin's gliding action, the non-abrasive gliding of the shaft of the penis within its own sheath, which facilitates smooth, comfortable and pleasurable intercourse for both partners.
  
• The "subpreputual wetness" which protects the mucosa of the glans (and inner foreskin), and which contains immunoglobulin antibodies and antibacterial and antiviral proteins such as the pathogen-killing enzyme lysozyme, a potent HIV killer which is also found in tears and mothers' milk.
  
• Estrogen receptors, the purpose of which is not fully understood.
  
• The foreskin's apocrine glands, which produce pheromones.
  
• The protection and lubrication of the erogenous surface of the penis, which is designed by nature to be an internal organ like the vagina. Natural sex involves contact between two internal organs.

In essence, medical male genital mutilation (MGM) is the pathologization and treatment of the "disease" of male sexuality.

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http://members.tranquility.net/~rwinkel/MGM/primer.html 

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NEED TO RE-DO CIRCUMCISION RISES.

Need to Re-Do Circumcision Rises; Reasons Unclear.

An unexplained increase in the number of revision circumcisions has pediatric urologists wondering whether the finding is real and, if so, what caused it.

Data contributed by pediatric hospitals nationwide showed a 119% increase in the rate of revision circumcision procedures from 2004 to 2009.

In contrast, the rate of primary circumcision increased by 19%, and procedures to remove penile adhesions rose by 37%.
"We found that certain hospitals had dramatic rises in revision circumcision procedures [approaching 1,000% in some cases] while others had more modest increases," said Kokorowski, of Children's Hospital Boston.
"Only three hospitals showed stable rates or slight decreases," he said.

They identified pediatric patients who underwent one of three types of specific penile procedures.

The analysis included 34,568 patients who underwent one of the targeted procedures.
The total consisted of 5,632 revision circumcisions, 25,768 primary circumcisions, and 3,168 procedures for lysis of penile adhesions.

 

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http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAP/29075 

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D.O.C. GENITAL INTEGRITY POLICY STATEMENT.

Doctors Opposing Circumcision -
Genital Integrity Policy Statement.

Doctors Opposing Circumcision (DOC) is a non-governmental, non-profit, educational organization, organized by medical doctors who support genital integrity and who oppose non-therapeutic genital cutting of infants and children.

Female circumcision already is recognized generally as a harmful operation and a violation of human rights.  Laws have been passed to protect girls, but boys have not been protected.

This statement, therefore, will concentrate on the protection of the genital integrity of male infants and children.
     

Several medical societies in English-speaking nations have issued position statements regarding the circumcision of male children.

 

These societies are composed of members, many of whom perform circumcision. The first duty of medical societies appears to be to protect and advance the financial and legal interests of their members.
(The practice of non-therapeutic child circumcision generates about $1.2 billion annually for the American medical community.)

 

Under these circumstances, there is a conflict of interest that hampers honest discussion of the issues.  Goldman argues that medical society circumcision policy statements are biased in favor of circumcision for a variety of emotional and social-political factors.

 

Emotional factors include the avoidance of the emotional discomfort of questioning one's own circumcision by circumcised doctors, and the protection of self-esteem by those who have performed hundreds or thousands of circumcisions.

 

       Social-political factors include a division of opinion and a desire to avoid an appearance of religious intolerance.

 

Goldman observes that discussions of sexual, psychological, human rights, ethical, and legal issues frequently are excluded from medical society circumcision policy statements.

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http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/statement01.html 

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