Prosecution

Sweden

2019: The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reports that the doctor Peter Borenstein has circumcised thousands of boys with sugar solution as the only anesthetic. The case of the doctor who used "sugar anesthetic" in circumcision is now covered by the IVO, the Swedish Health and Social Care Inspectorate. The man, who is also a mohel in a Jewish community, has spread unscientific claims about the procedure, according to experts. Among other things, he claimed that the cut does not hurt as long afterwards as in older children and adults, because the nerve connections in the brain, by which one has the feeling that it hurts afterwards, are connected only if the child is closer to the age of two months. This no longer corresponds to the state of science.

Peter Borenstein was also the one who told the chairman of the Swedish Central Council of Jews, Aron Verständig, the risk of complications on the eighth day after birth would be as low as possible. Aron Verständig sent an SMS to Svenska Dagbladet as proof, which Borenstein had written:

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När man är nyfödd har man ytterst låga halter av vitamin K samt blodplättar i blodet. Halten stiger därefter snabbt till ett absolut maximum just på åttonde levnadsdagen. Aldrig mer i livet har därför blodet så god förmåga att sluta blöda som just på åttonde dagen. Translation: "When you are a newborn you have extremely low levels of vitamin K and blood platelets. The level then rises rapidly to an absolute maximum on the eighth day of life. Therefore, never more in life does the blood have as good ability to stop bleeding as on the eighth day." – Peter Borenstein (Svenska Dagbladet)

Peter Svensson, a professor of clinical coagulation medicine at Lund University, says there are no studies known to him that support Borenstein's claim.

It is expected that the IVO will impose sanctions.