Circumcision Essay

Circumcision of A Newborn There is often a misunderstanding of the severity of the choices that soon-to-be parents must make when having a male child. One choice that the parents must take into consideration is whether they would like to have him circumcised soon after his birth. Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin or prepuce from the child’s penis. When making this decision, guardians must be fully informed of all knowledge of the procedure and all that the surgery entails to the child. Parents should consider the possible negative physical effects, the possible negative psychological effects, as well as the procedure being in violation of all medical ethical principles that the surgery will have. Thus, the decision in which a fully informed parent should make is to wait

Complications arise 55% of the time (Bollinger) and can include infection, too little or too much foreskin being removed, Meatitis, necrosis of the penis, urinary retention, amputation of the glans, or Phimosis. Any of these complications, if not treated appropriately, can lead to death. Dan Bollinger states that according to a recent study, there are approximately 117 neonatal circumcision related deaths in the United States that occur annually, arising from these complications. This makes up about 1.3% of all male neonatal deaths. The exact number can only be approximated due to physicians not listing on the death certificate circumcision as “the immediate or leading cause of death and rarely listing circumcision as an underlying cause,” (Bollinger). While circumcision is often looked upon as a relatively easy procedure by the physician, the parents of the child should still be aware that it is still a surgery that has risks associated with it and is not 100% guaranteed to go exactly as planned by the parents or the