GA - $2.3 Million for Botched Circumcision

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/me...cision_suit.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Still, all the money in the world can't make up for what was taken away. I feel so sorry for this little boy.

Bless his heart.

Poor little guy. How do you ever get over something like that?

there was another case back in the late 50's or 60's where a set of twin boys were born and one of the boys the dr...slipped and his penis was severed also..the dr persuaded the parents to raise the boy as a girl...the dr. was wanting to do a study on transgender...he documented everything...the little boy/girl had a horrible life as he/she felt different he was also put thru gruelling embarrising tests and questions by this so called dr...the dr would tell her she was doing things unlady like...the dr even made them(both twins) take their clothes off infront of him and he took pictures of the twins in different positions trying to get accross the point of the girls roll and the boys roll ....(would be considered child *advertiser censored* now) finally when he was a teen his parents told him what happened and so he decided he wanted to be raised as a boy. they sued the dr and he received alot of money but he went thru that pretty fast...he went on to get married but was unable to have regular sex and no children. he ended up cimmitting suicide....
it was a very sad story...i'll see if i can find the link on that.. there is supposed to be a book also based on this study but it was written as a success study...when it was not a success....

wildTrose said:

there was another case back in the late 50's or 60's where a set of twin boys were born and one of the boys the dr...slipped and his penis was severed also..the dr persuaded the parents to raise the boy as a girl...the dr. was wanting to do a study on transgender...he documented everything...the little boy/girl had a horrible life as he/she felt different he was also put thru gruelling embarrising tests and questions by this so called dr...the dr would tell her she was doing things unlady like...the dr even made them(both twins) take their clothes off infront of him and he took pictures of the twins in different positions trying to get accross the point of the girls roll and the boys roll ....(would be considered child *advertiser censored* now) finally when he was a teen his parents told him what happened and so he decided he wanted to be raised as a boy. they sued the dr and he received alot of money but he went thru that pretty fast...he went on to get married but was unable to have regular sex and no children. he ended up cimmitting suicide....
it was a very sad story...i'll see if i can find the link on that.. there is supposed to be a book also based on this study but it was written as a success study...when it was not a success....

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I have that book - "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl" It is a traumatic read.

Some US insurance companies no longer cover routine male circumcisions, considering it a cosmetic surgery.

wildTrose said:

there was another case back in the late 50's or 60's where a set of twin boys were born and one of the boys the dr...slipped and his penis was severed also..the dr persuaded the parents to raise the boy as a girl...the dr. was wanting to do a study on transgender...he documented everything...the little boy/girl had a horrible life as he/she felt different he was also put thru gruelling embarrising tests and questions by this so called dr...the dr would tell her she was doing things unlady like...the dr even made them(both twins) take their clothes off infront of him and he took pictures of the twins in different positions trying to get accross the point of the girls roll and the boys roll ....(would be considered child *advertiser censored* now) finally when he was a teen his parents told him what happened and so he decided he wanted to be raised as a boy. they sued the dr and he received alot of money but he went thru that pretty fast...he went on to get married but was unable to have regular sex and no children. he ended up cimmitting suicide....
it was a very sad story...i'll see if i can find the link on that.. there is supposed to be a book also based on this study but it was written as a success study...when it was not a success....

Click to expand...

Yes, As Nature Made Him. I graded for a university course that used that book this year. It isn't a very good book. Its such a compelling story; I wish someone who could write in a more nuanced way could get a hold of the author's notes and interview transcripts and write that story the way it should be written. I live in the same city where it took place. Interesting and very tragic.

ETA: When my son was born, circumcision wasn't covered as it was considered cosmetic (as a previous poster mentioned). I hadn't thought much about it at the time so I didn't get it done. That was 13 years ago. When I was pregnant again a few years ago, I was not going to do a circumcision if I had a boy. My partner at the time very much wanted one. luckily I had a girl so we avoided that argument. lol

brighidin said:

Yes, As Nature Made Him. I graded for a university course that used that book this year. It isn't a very good book. Its such a compelling story; I wish someone who could write in a more nuanced way could get a hold of the author's notes and interview transcripts and write that story the way it should be written. I live in the same city where it took place. Interesting and very tragic.

ETA: When my son was born, circumcision wasn't covered as it was considered cosmetic (as a previous poster mentioned). I hadn't thought much about it at the time so I didn't get it done. That was 13 years ago. When I was pregnant again a few years ago, I was not going to do a circumcision if I had a boy. My partner at the time very much wanted one. luckily I had a girl so we avoided that argument. lol

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You are right that the book isn't particularly well-written, but the story is so sad and interesting that it is hard to put down. Did you give birth to your son in Canada? My experience is that routine male circumcision is very American - and it kind of continues on because many couples want their sons to look like their fathers in the penis department.

Neither of my sons are circumcised and neither is my husband, who was born in Europe. So it was a no-brainer choice in my house.

My wife and I had a boy 4 weeks ago, I had always just assumed we would get him circumcised without pause. As it turned out, I did a bunch of reading and found myself on the fence about it. I rescheduled his appt. twice! While I wasn't that surprised the insurance didn't cover it, I was very surprised at how few physicians would do it. None of the peds guys would do it. One general surgeon said he would, but he hadn't in many years so scratch that! The only urologist thats close by decided she's a fundie now so she refuses to do them. I'm not sure what thats all about? We ended up going to a friend of mine, she said more often than not these days boys go uncircumcised in this region of the country. Truthfully, I don't really care either way......it seemed important to my wife tho.

Weird...I didn't realize doctors were refusing to do them now, nor did I know that some insurance doesn't cover it! We had our son circumcised just a day or two after his birth (he'll be nine in a month). We had him at a military hospital, and they treated it like a very minor, everyday procedure. Knowing what I know now-I might have had second thoughts.

MissieMt said:

Weird...I didn't realize doctors were refusing to do them now, nor did I know that some insurance doesn't cover it! We had our son circumcised just a day or two after his birth (he'll be nine in a month). We had him at a military hospital, and they treated it like a very minor, everyday procedure. Knowing what I know now-I might have had second thoughts.

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It's "more" minor done very soon after birth. But wait a few months or longer and you're looking at full-on surgery!

As a longtime OB nurse I am on the fence as to circ. or not to circ. I really feel that if it is your intention it needs to be done soon after delivery by someone with lots of experience. Preferrably a urlogists. In this day in age cleanliness really should not be an issue and living without being circ. should not be a problem. The issue arises when there is a need for it to be done at an older age. It is a major procedure then and very painful.

The book mentioned above.. "As Nature Made Him">.. I believe TLC has a one hour special on that same story. It runs every so often.

I had my son 25 years too soon. I so didn't want him circ'ed, I had seen some done working in the New Born Nursery. They seemed like torture to me. Usually they were fine but some docs, I wouldn't let them do surgery on a stray cat!

I said no, dh (now ex-dh) said yes, so we agreed to let the pediatrician decide. Pedi said do it (only time in 17 yrs he let me down) DS was done in hospital and stopped breathing after the pedi left! My insurance didn't cover it back then either btw.

Many of the friends I made with boys my sons age didn't get their boys circ'ed, even if daddy was.

ETA Oh, that book/story was heart breaking. (Born in 1965) The twin who was raised a boy (Brian) developed schizophrenia after learning of his brother's transition. By 1997, David had undergone treatment to reverse the reassignment, including testosterone injections, a double mastectomy, and two phalloplasty operations. He also married a woman and became a stepfather to her 3 children.

David had to deal with the death of his brother from an overdose of antidepressants in 2002, unemployment and separation from his wife Jane. On May 5, 2004, he used a sawed off shotgun to end his life.

I believe what that doctor did to those kids would have been considered sexual abuse/molestation and *advertiser censored* back then too. The parents were too unsophisticated and trusting of the doctor.

MissieMt said:

Weird...I didn't realize doctors were refusing to do them now, nor did I know that some insurance doesn't cover it! We had our son circumcised just a day or two after his birth (he'll be nine in a month). We had him at a military hospital, and they treated it like a very minor, everyday procedure. Knowing what I know now-I might have had second thoughts.

Click to expand...

The US is the only Western country where a majority of non-Jewish, non-Muslim males are circumcised, or at least were for two generations. Apparently this is due to the influence of a few prominent German-born professors teaching in several major med schools starting in the 1930's. These professors had fled Nazi Germany and even though there never was any scientifically demonstrated, non-religious justification for circumcision these physicians passed it as a routine procedure that only backwards countries would do without. This was not true but who were we to disagree with distinguished European Herr Professoren with impeccable credentials?

Fundamentalist Christians have always been against circumcision because according to them it is specifically forbidden in the New Testament but most other Christian Churches were undecided about the matter, and didn't want to appear to be against scientific progress. At least such was the situation in the US (and maybe Canada) because in Europe the huge majority of men weren't and still aren't circumcised unless they are of the Jewish or Muslim faith, for whom male circumcision is a religious obligation.

But here at last the medical community appears to have finally admitted that circumcision for non-religious reasons has no reason to be and can even be harmful in some cases. Another consideration is that it reduces male sexual pleasure and sometimes even sexual drive by exposing an area of the penis that is meant to be protected by a sheath when not in use lest it becomes desensitized, even though this reason is not typically invoked by Fundamentalists

Seriously, I don't think the decline of the practice has to do with Fundamentalist influence as there seem to be relatively few Fundamentalist physicians (Fundamentalism and science aren't a good match apparently) but simply the lack of scientific basis, which is the reason HMO's and other types of health insurance won't cover it. From a strictly medical point of view circumcision is now considered cosmetic surgery and is likely to become the exception rather than the norm pretty quickly.