15,797
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→Information for parents regarding non-therapeutic circumcision of infant boys.: Add text.
==Information for parents regarding non-therapeutic circumcision of infant boys.==
This section is for all parents of boys, but is addressed primarily to parents of boys who are located in the United States of America, who appear to be most uninformed or misinformed about the [[foreskin]] and [[circumcision]].
===Provision of relevant information===
The medical trade associations, such as the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]], the [[American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists| American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists]], the [[American Academy of Family Physicians]], and the American Urological Association have a primary responsibility to their fellows (members) of advancing the profitability of medical practice. Consequently their public statements regarding medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic circumcision of boys are strongly biased in favor of promoting the practice, so that their fellows can earn more money for the additional service of circumcision. The public statements are silent on the [[human rights]] of the child-patient and the multiple physiological [http://www.intactaus.org/information/functionsoftheforeskin/ functions of the foreskin]. They describe "potential" benefits which are imagined benefits that cannot be proved to actually exist. They understate the risks of the surgical procedure, which can include loss of the penis and [[death]]. They are silent on the [[Sexual effects of circumcision| sexual]] and [[Psychological issues of male circumcision| psychological]] harms of having the most erogenous<ref name="winklemann1959">{{REFjournal
|accessdate=2020-07-21
}}</ref> part of the penis amputated. For all of these reasons, their statements should not be used as a basis for informed consent.
Svoboda ''et al''. {2000) commented:
<blockquote>
Even more troubling in the common occurrence of parents being presented with the circumcision question for the first time when a mother is in labor at a hospital. Surgeon George Kaplan notes that "all too often the consent to circumcise is included in a sheaf of papers that the mother signs hurriedly on her way to the delivery room. No discussion has been held regarding the merits of the procedure or of the inherent risks."
</blockquote>
For some reason this information is not making it to parents. Studies have shown that doctors provide parents with almost no accurate or useful information about circumcision.
|location=New York
|year=Sept 2002
}}</ref> This [[Financial Incentive| incentive]] can cloud a physician’s judgment when it comes to providing parents with information about circumcision. ===Pain and anesthesia===
[[Image:circumcision_screaming_baby.jpg|right|thumb|Horror of Circumcision.]]