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→Medical ethics and circumcision: Add section.
The doctors themselves are not allowed to carry out an operation that is not medically indicated if the "patient" — in this case a child who is unable to give consent — cannot give his or her consent. In this case, there would be criminal acts against the child due to unauthorized bodily harm and infliction of damage.
=== Mininum age for non-therapeutic circumcision ===
Two ethicists, Myers & Earp (2020), have conducted a detailed review and analysis of the claimed medical benefits of non-therapeutic [[circumcision]]. They have determined that the alleged benefits are not material, so they do not support granting of consent by a surrogate. Moreover, they comment that even the most perfectly executed surgery produces [[trauma]] and harm to the patient. Circumcision also produces tissue loss and loss of function, therefore, circumcision should be performed only after the individual reaches the age of consent and grants consent.<ref name="myers2020">{{REFjournal
|last=Myers
|first=
|init=A
|author-link=
|last2=Earp
|first2=
|init2=BD
|author2-link=Brian D. Earp
|etal=no
|title=What is the best age to circumcise? A medical and ethical analysis
|trans-title=
|language=
|journal=J Biosoc Sci
|location=
|date=2020-09
|volume=34
|issue=7
|pages=560-72
|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bioe.12714
|archived=
|quote=
|pubmedID=32068898
|pubmedCID=
|DOI=10.1111/bioe.12714
|accessdate=2023-05-23
}}</ref> Consent by a surrogate for a non-therapeutic circumcision is an unethical practice.
{{SEEALSO}}