Changes

In 2004 Sonyika circumcised a one week old baby. The nurse assisting in the circumcision noted excessive bleeding and believed that excess tissue had been removed. In fact, a large portion of his glans penis had been severed. The lawsuit indicated medical negligence in the treatment of the severed tissue, which would have been possible to reattach if proper care and attention had been given within 8 hours. Instead, the tissue was placed in a biohazard bag and left at the nurses’ station. No doctor came in to examine the child after the nurse noted the severed tip. The tissue with the tip in it was eventually sent to pathology. The pathologist’s report confirmed the loss of part of the glans penis. A local pediatric urologist eventually diagnosed the boy with a significant circumcision injury resulting in an [[iatrogenic ]] hypospadias, a physician-caused condition where the urinary opening is on the underside of the penis.