CIRCUMCISION DEATH: 7yo Dies in Bishek, Kyrgyzstan Post-Circumcision

 

This happened last month, and I've been sitting on it because I've been busy with life and work, but I figured, better late than never.

I can't read the original news article anymore because it's now behind a paywall, but the opening line says it all; A 7-year-old boy died in the Bishkek Children's Hospital, Bishek, Kyrgyzstan on April 2nd this year.

The headline says that an autopsy was not performed.

Outside of the United States, circumcision is performed on boys of varying ages. In Muslim countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, circumcision is performed on children between the ages of 7 and 13.

Some circumcision advocates love to say "death doesn't happen when it's performed on newborns." Jewish advocates love to say "death never happens when performed on the 8th day." Of course, they say this because this is when Jewish boys are customarily circumcised.

None of this is true, however.

Death is a risk of circumcision, and it doesn't really matter at what age the circumcision is performed.

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

Quite possibly the most common of all complications is the child bleeding to death because the wound has failed to heal properly, and this will happen to any male, any age, whether it's performed by a ritual circumcisor or doctor.

Please see the long list of links below.

In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued their policy statement on male infant circumcision, where they state that "the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks," but at the same time, in the same policy statement, they say "the true incidence of complications after newborn circumcision is unknown." The statement concluded that "the benefits are not enough to recommend the procedure," while at the same time, that parents should be the ones to weight the risks and benefits for themselves, the risks of which are, by the AAP's own admission, unknown. In effect, the AAP absolves doctors who perform circumcisions on healthy minors of any responsibility, placing the onus on parents instead.

Because this is cosmetic, non-medical surgery, whether or not these risks are conscionable ought to be considered when performing it on healthy, non-consenting minors.

It is my view that, unless absolutely indicated, the decision of whether or not to circumcise should be left up to the individual in question, when he is of age, and after he has considered all the benefits and risks for himself.

The child was alive and well up until April 2nd last month, and had he not been circumcised he would still be alive.

Death is a risk of circumcision.

Are parents being properly informed about this?

Without medical or clinical indication, can doctors even be performing circumcision on healthy, non-consenting minors, let alone be giving parents any kind of "choice?"

Isn't it medically fraudulent to be profiting from non-medical procedures on healthy, non-consenting individuals?

And if one of said individuals dies, should doctors not be held liable?

Related Posts: 

So Where's the "Sunat Party?"

No World Record for "Circumcision Party"

 

External Link:

 

AKIPress:7yo in died in Bihsek after circumcision, autopsy not performed

 

Further Reading:

 

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: 13yo Bleeds to Death in the Philippines

 

AUSTRALIA: One Child Dies, Another Nearly Bleeds to Death Post Circumcision

 

AFRICA: Two Boys Die Post-Circumcision Despite Thoughts and Prayers

 

FACEBOOK: Another Hemorrhaging Baby Post-Circumcision

FACEBOOK: Another Circumcision Death Surfaces

 

ITALY: Yet Another Circumcision Death

 

Another Circumcision Death - Wound Would Not Stop Bleeding

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

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

January 24, 2022: Circumcision Sends Another Baby Boy to "Heaven"

 

It's happened before. And it will all happen again. But this time it happened in Texas.

I grow tired of writing these, so I'm just going to post the picture exactly as I found it on Facebook:

 

There's something cringe-worthy about parents who willingly allow their otherwise healthy child to have their genitals mutilated by a perfect stranger trying to somehow tie in their religion and "the will of god" into the picture.

"God needed him more than we did," the mother wrote. Yes. And apparently the doctor needed your child's foreskin more than he did. And you wanted your child to have a mutilated organ more than you wanted your child.

"He was always meant to be an angel." The deliberate justification of infanticide. So why don't we kill all children then? So that they all "get to heaven?"

And what do you mean "little did we know?" Did the doctors not explain the risks and complications of circumcision? Or he did and you signed the form anyway? One of these two things has to be true.

"Why do other babies get miracles but mine didn't? Why did this happen to us?"

So you wanted to have your child mutilated AND you wanted a miracle? Wonders never cease.

This is about as much as I can write on this. I'm not sure how long we intactivists have to say it or how many more babies have to die before we realize doctors shouldn't be doing this. The following is cut and paste. I can't anymore with this story.

Closing Statement
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.

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

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.

Because male infant circumcision is elective, cosmetic surgery, any death above "zero" is unconscionable.

May one day the circumcision of healthy, non-consenting individuals be recognized for the medical fraud and violation of basic human rights that it is.

Related Posts:

NEW "STUDY": "Circumcision Risks Low in Newborns"

The Circumcision Blame Game

 

List of Deaths and Complications Documented on This Blog:

 

AUSTRALIA: One Child Dies, Another Nearly Bleeds to Death Post Circumcision

 

AFRICA: Two Boys Die Post-Circumcision Despite Thoughts and Prayers

 

FACEBOOK: Another Hemorrhaging Baby Post-Circumcision

FACEBOOK: Another Circumcision Death Surfaces

 

ITALY: Yet Another Circumcision Death

 

Another Circumcision Death - Wound Would Not Stop Bleeding

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

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

AFRICA: Two Boys Die Post-Circumcision Despite Thoughts and Prayers

Mutua Kuthuka, father of two boys who died post-circumcision

I'm not going to say much in this one. All I'm going to do is repost this article about two boys who died last week after botched traditional circumcisions in Africa.

All I want to say is, those who say "you can't compare male and female circumcision" are either ignorant or pretend to be, and they need to shut up and stop spreading deliberate and demonstrable lies.

Male and female circumcision aren't "similar"; they're identical.

One and the same.

They BOTH need to stop, and they need to stop now.

I will copy/paste the article and the link below.

On Wednesday morning last week, 12 boys between the ages of five and eight assembled at a homestead in Lundi village in Mwingi East, Kitui County, ready to undergo circumcision.

 

The boys, all under the grip of fear, were to be circumcised using a razor blade by a 70-year-old woman. The woman is said to be an experienced traditional circumciser and is revered among members of the Kavonokya sect. 

The sect, which has its base in parts of Mwingi and Kitui South, is notorious for disregarding conventional medicine. Its members do not visit hospitals. Whenever one of them falls sick, the members congregate in their secretive conclaves for prayers. At times the prayers are endless. Many members have died as a result. 

 

In the event of death, they hurriedly and secretly bury the dead and later dismiss it as an unavoidable will of God.

Armed with nothing more than razor blades and egged on by the fathers of the boys who were pinning the young ones down, the circumciser moved from one boy to another, casually cutting off the foreskin.

 

After the cut, the boys would be tossed onto a waiting party that would bandage their private parts with pieces of clothes to stop the bleeding.

 

Unlike in hospitals, this callous ritual had no drugs to lessen the pain.

 

And then something tragic happened. Two of the boys developed excessive bleeding after being cut. They were immediately carted away and taken to a secret house where sect members began their ritual prayers.

The sect members continued praying, jumping up and down and clutching firmly onto bibles, as the boys’ lives slowly ebbed away.

 

From Wednesday to Friday, the two boys aged five and seven lay on a bed, and bled endlessly. Late on Friday, with no other intervention except for the prayers characterised by intense beating of drums, singing and violent stomping of feet, the condition of the two siblings deteriorated. They died, one after the other.

 

“Ijumaa ndio walilemewa zaidi,” their father, Mutua Kithuka said, revealing that the bleeding never stopped.

 

“The younger one died at 6pm and the other one around 10pm. They would vomit every time they were given something to eat,” said an emotionless Kithuka, a staunch Kavonokya adherent who describes himself as the paragon of faith and who says going to hospital is out of question for his family.

 

Falls sick

“It is true we did not take them to hospital because I am saved and according to the scriptures, we are not allowed to go to hospital. If one falls sick, you invite the church elders to pray and the sick is healed by faith. God gives and God takes away, it is His will,” Kithuka said.

 

He said his sons had never stepped foot in hospital since they were born but were in ‘perfect’ health. 

Mwingi East police boss Joseph Yakan confirmed Kithuka was arrested yesterday while the traditional circumciser was arrested on Friday. They are being held at Ukasi Police Station and will be arraigned today.

 

Mui chief Paul Musyimi said he learnt of the matter after the boys had already died. “We are warning the sect members not to circumcise their sons at home. Stern action will be taken against those who go against this directive,” Musyimi said.

 

The two bodies have been preserved at Mwingi Level IV Hospital mortuary.

Link to Original Article Below:

eve: Two boys left to die as parents prayed after circumcision ceremony goes awry 

Related Posts:

List of Deaths and Complications Documented on This Blog:

FACEBOOK: Another Hemorrhaging Baby Post-Circumcision

FACEBOOK: Another Circumcision Death Surfaces

ITALY: Yet Another Circumcision Death

 

Another Circumcision Death - Wound Would Not Stop Bleeding

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

 

FACEBOOK: Another Circumcision Death Surfaces

I was scrolling down my Facebook news feed and this caught my eye. I'm not going to comment much on this one... I'm just going to copy-paste what the mother wrote as it speaks enough for itself.

"He was born completely healthy. He died because they were negligent and didn’t clean their circumcision tools and because of that my son contracted herpes and suffered everyday of his life in pain.

"When we came home from the hospital, I told my husband and his pediatrician there was something wrong with my baby. As soon as he came back from having the procedure, he started acting differently. He cried constantly. You see he was in pain. He would clench up, he refused food. I kept telling the dr and my husband there is something wrong with my baby and I think he is going to die.

"He stopped breathing which landed us into the hospital with our 16-day-old baby. It took a week to figure out he had hsv2, which is herpes. The herpes caused him to get meningitis and encephalitis, which eventually ate his brain to the point his brain was liquid.

"My son had 7 spinal taps during his stay. We brought him home after 7 and half weeks in the hospital. At this point they are telling us that he is going to be completely dependent on us the rest of his life, that he suffered severe brain damage.

"We were able to bring him home but he was on iv medication for 2 weeks at home. He needed medication by iv round the clock. My son was on 12 medications. He suffered from seizures due to the meningitis.

"On August __ my son turned blue and stopped breathing again in my arms. We had been home about two weeks. We called 911. They drilled a hole into his tiny little leg on my couch in my living room to get him the iv medication.

"On August __ we had to make the decision to take him off life support. He was completely brain dead. He stopped opening his eyes, eating, crying, moving.

"My little boy was gone. My husband and I took him off life support at 1:22 pm. He died in my arms at 10:35 that night. I watched my little boy slowly stop breathing and die and that was the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my entire life, but he would never be off a ventilator nor would ever open his eyes or speak or anything.

"My daughter was just over the moon happy with having a baby brother. She loved him so much. We had to send her to stay with my parents while our son was fighting for his life so in a sense she lost her brother and her parents for a while.

"She was devastated. She has said so many times she wants to die and go to heaven to be with her brother. She is only 6 years old. We kept her involved as much as we could but this has affected her in so many different ways. We went from explaining to her that he was going to be different and special and need lots of care to I’m sorry but your brother is going to die. She got very mad and hated the world for taking her baby brother.

"The hospital blamed me, saying I gave him herpes which we were able to prove that I don’t have it, never have, nor have I ever been exposed. Our lawyer has been able to pin the time frame along with drs to prove that Oliver caught the infection during the circumcision.

"We didn’t know how it was done until after my son died and I watched a video and I almost lost my mind to see how cruel it is.

"I would have fought with my life to stop the circumcision but they said it was safe and normal.

"We both lived in the hospital with our son. We never left him we were just praying to God that our little boy would live. This child our son is my husband's only biological child . I remember us both blaming ourselves for what happened to our little boy. There was a lot of resentment, a lot of anger towards the hospital where he was birthed. This mistake cost our son his life and tore our family up."

Cases of herpes being spread from mohels and rabbis to male infants have made headlines before, but this is the first time your blogger had ever heard of a child contracting herpes at a hospital from a secular, non-religious circumcision.

The risks of male infant circumcision include, but aren't limited to, infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhage and even death.

Because male infant circumcision is elective, non-medical surgery, any risk above zero is unconscionable.

Death is a risk of male infant circumcision.

Are parents being informed of this risk?

This is the question the AAP must address in their next policy statement on male infant circumcision.

It sounds like this mother didn't make a fully informed decision.

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

Without medical or clinical indication, doctors have no business performing elective, non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting individuals, let alone be eliciting any kind of "choice" from the child's parents.







Deaths due to circumcision surface on Facebook all the time, and yet they barely get any coverage in the news.

I could only imagine that reporters would find more, would that they bothered to look.

The problem is that male infant circumcision has become so entrenched in American society that people have a tendency to look the other way whenever deaths like these happen, or to find some sort of excuse for it.

How many deaths will this take?

How many parents would refuse this needless surgery on their healthy children if they knew death was a risk?

This dirty little secret can't remain hidden forever.

List of Deaths and Complications Documented on This Blog:

ITALY: Yet Another Circumcision Death

 

Another Circumcision Death - Wound Would Not Stop Bleeding

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

ITALY: Yet Another Circumcision Death

Last year, a circumcision death in Italy made headlines in December. After a long hiatus of posting nothing but my poems for filler, I thought I'd write a blog post to address it, but I never quite got around to it.

A 2nd death has just been reported in Italy, and now I feel I must write a post.

Especially since there was another death in Italy back in 2016.

I hate doing these.

How many more children have to be lost to circumcision before people think it's a problem?

In both cases, the circumcisions were conducted at home, creating an excuse for circumcision advocates to minimize the deaths.

"The child was circumcised at home," goes the excuse.

"Of course if the child were circumcised at a hospital by a trained professional, this wouldn't have happened."

This dismissal of the latest deaths in Italy is problematic in more ways than one.

First off, a great deal of circumcisions are carried out in homes, especially in the case of babies whose parents are Jewish, where a traditional circumciser called a "mohel" is invited to a home to conduct the cutting ritual.

Andrew Freedman, one of the members of the Circumcision Task-force at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), who released their policy statement on circumcision in 2012, openly bragged about having circumcised his own son on a kitchen table.

"I circumcised [my son] myself on my parents’ kitchen table on the eighth day of his life. But I did it for religious, not medical reasons. I did it because I had 3,000 years of ancestors looking over my shoulder." ~Andrew Freedman

No conflict of interest there, right...

Second, children dying from complications isn't limited to circumcisions performed at home; the death of a child circumcised at a hospital in Canada made headlines not too long ago.

And he wouldn't be the first. Circumcision deaths at hospitals make headlines every once in a while, but circumcision advocates are always ready to make excuses for the deaths, either because the child may have been too old, or because the doctor was "incompetent." (This is fallacious; complications happen whether or not doctors are "competent" or not.)

An excuse for circumcision deaths at the hands of doctors I hear quite often is that "children need to be circumcised on the 8th day by a mohel." Of course, deaths happen at the hands of mohels too. Amitai Moshe comes to mind. In this case, as always, a factor excluding circumcision was to blame. The baby was pronounced to have died of "natural causes"; it was hemorrhage that killed him (not the circumcision which caused the hemorrhage of course).

Another baby died in Israel, not too long ago. In this case too, a "pre-existing condition" was to blame.

"It should have been at a hospital."

"It should have been a trained professional."

"It should have been on the 8th day of life."

"It should have been by a mohel."

"The mohel should have been better trained."

"The doctor was incompetent."

"The baby should have been tested for pre-existing conditions."

"It was the baby's fault. He shouldn't have died; the circumcision was a success."

Excuse, after excuse as to why circumcision must be exonerated and thus allowed to continue despite all the deaths.

When did people fight as hard to excuse female infant genital mutilation?

When did we ever say about deaths caused by FGM "It needed to be done at a hospital by a trained professional when she is an infant?"

Why the instant condemnation FGM when girls die, but the long list of excuses and explanations as to why male infant circumcision should continue?

The Circumcision Policy Statement put out by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2012 was a non-committal, wishy-washy hodgepodge of nonsense that, aside from failing to culminate in any kind of recommendation, for or against, is resulting in the untimely deaths of infants around the world.

In their 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement, the AAP repeated over and over:

"The benefits [of male infant #circumcision] outweigh the risks."

In conclusion, however the statement says:

"The benefits[of circumcision] are not great enough to recommend [it]."

Within the same statement are written these words:

"The true incidence of complications after newborn circumcision is unknown."

So the AAP 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement can be summarized as follows:

"The benefits, which are not great enough to recommend, outweigh the risks, which are unknown."

The AAP conducted an extensive review of all the literature up until 2012, and concluded that the benefits were not great enough to recommend circumcision. But somehow, lay parents are expected to arrive at a more reasonable conclusion.

The 2012 was nonsense, which is why 38 pediatricians, urologists, epidemiologists, and professors, representing 20 medical organizations and 15 universities and hospitals in 17 countries published an article in the AAP Pediatrics publication, which rejected and thoroughly dismantled it, and most likely why the AAP has allowed the policy statement to expire.
 
Yes, few people seem to be aware of this, but the 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement has been allowed to expire, and thus has no current standing policy statement on male infant circumcision.


This from the official AAP website:

"All policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaffirmed, revised, or retired at or before that time."

It is now 2019, the statement hasn't been reaffirmed or revised, and so far not a peep from the AAP.


Questions arise:
If the complications of circumcision are "unknown," what efforts are being done to document them so that they *are* known?

If the complications of circumcision are "unknown," how can it be said that "the benefits outweigh the risks?"

Has the AAP been recording all the deaths and complications since 2012?

Is there an "acceptable" number of deaths and/or complications for male infant circumcision?

If so, what is it?

Is there an "acceptable" number of deaths and/or complications for female circumcision?

If so, what is it?

If circumcision is purely elective surgery, how are any deaths or complications above zero conscionable?


I hope it is clear by now that, whether people would like to admit it or not, death is a complication of male infant circumcision.

And for those ready to argue that this was an isolated incident, feel free to peruse the long list of deaths and complications documented on this blog. (Scroll down.)

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

Death is a risk of male infant circumcision.

It cannot be repeated enough.

Death is a risk of circumcision.

How many times do we have to say it?

Death is a risk of circumcision.

How many more boys must die until it is recognized?

Death is a risk of circumcision.

And, just for good measure, death is a risk of circumcision.





Related Posts:

OUT OF LINE: AAP Circumcision Policy Statement Formally Rejected

Related News Links:
AP News: Another Infant Boy in Italy Dies after Home Circumcision

BBC: Italy Circumcision Kills Toddler, with One Man Charged

National Post: Ontario Boy Bleeds to Death after a Family Doctor Persuadess Parents to Have Him Circumcised

Telegraph: Police Investigate Baby's Death after Circumcision 

List of Deaths and Complications Documented on This Blog:

Another Circumcision Death - Wound Would Not Stop Bleeding

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

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