Rabbi Sued After Baby Injured During Circumcision

[Purveyor]

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A local rabbi is being sued after allegedly botching a bris, the traditional Jewish circumcision ritual, and severing a newborn boy’s penis.

The incident detailed in the lawsuit happened at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill within the last year.

--clip
Sometime during the bris, according to the lawsuit, Rosenberg severed the baby boy’s penis. The baby was rushed to Children’s Hospital, where doctors performed emergency microsurgery.

“If your finger, your thumb was cut off and was put back on, that is pretty exciting,” said renowned UPMC plastic surgeon Dr. Joe Losee.

--clip
But our sources say it took eight hours. The baby needed six blood transfusions and was hospitalized for nearly two months. Sources describe the reattachment procedure as successful.

more...

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/12/27/rabbi-sued-after-baby-injured-during-circumcision/

[Glassunion]

1. Just...

Ouch!

[Vashta Nerada]

2. Guess the Rabbi isn't getting a tip.

[Lost_Count]

3. Barbaric either way...

[Purveyor]

7. I hope the poor, terrorized child retains the right the sue the fuck out of these people for what

"they" have done to him.

And no, the parents should NOT have the right to sue and reap a windfall. It is their fucking fault this barbarity took place in the first place.

[Drahthaardogs]

17. Who is "they"?

I thought it was one rabbi.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

43. The rabbi did it with the parents permission.

That's why the poster said "they".

[LittleBlue]

4. Any other guys out there do involuntary crotch grab reading this?

[dhill926]

35. along with a gulp….

and a whimper...

[riderinthestorm]

5. Why can't males decide for themselves whether they want to be circumcised when they're adults?

[Prophet 451]

6. Mostly, they should be able to

In a very few cases, circumcision becomes medically necessary during childhood. For example, heavy scarring can make the foreskin too inflexible to be retracted.

[riderinthestorm]

18. It just seems wrong to do cosmetic surgery on babies without their consent

Unless its medically necessary...

[Prophet 451]

40. I actually agree with you

I'm British and very few people are circumcised here (and we have a statistically normal level of STDs). Barring medical necessity, I think it shouldn't be done on anyone below, say, 16.

EDIT: Actually, how old are kids when they have bar mitzvahs? 13, IIRC. So let's say it's a minimum of 13.

[LittleBlue]

12. Because few would actually do it

The only reason it's done is because babies can't articulate an objection.

[riderinthestorm]

21. What I don't get is that if this is a religious ritual to mark one as part of the tribe

It would have far greater meaning and import if it was CHOSEN by men when they were able to make that informed choice.

Rather than have it done to unconsenting infants.

Fwiw I'm a firm believer that any cosmetic body modification wait til the child can make up their own mind. Including ear piercing

[PCIntern]

8. What, not enough Bibi/Palestine/Gaza/West Bank 'news' lately?

So it's circumcision this week, is it? what's next: Paraphrasing Pat Buchanan?

just asking...

[Purveyor]

9. Still making my 'rounds'...stay tuned!

[PCIntern]

10. We can see that...nt

[Purveyor]

13. Well I'm glad my threads are so eagerly awaited...indeed!~

[HERVEPA]

38. Into major schmuckery today, huh?

[SidDithers]

15. Exactly...

presstv and The Future of Freedom Foundation must not have anything anti-Semitic to bring to DU today.

Sid

[madinmaryland]

16. It's better than the "look at me" gender wars threads. nt

[tblue37]

24. Don't forget breastfeeding. nt

[Luminous Animal]

28. Indeed. Breast feeding is and should be controversial.

What are those women thinking? Feeding their baby? In public.

Personally, I find the mocking of the "controversy" pathetic.

[Luminous Animal]

37. And yet one topic that is regularly presented as controversial. Because it was. On DU.

Perhaps we are all now good with it as we are with marriage equality. Thus, I'd like to see it dropped as a DU mocking meme.

[Luminous Animal]

42. Thank you.

[madinmaryland]

25. I'm to the point where I would support a cigarette smoking thread by The Straight Story!!

[Jesus Malverde]

45. lol..nt

[Scootaloo]

32. What an odd response.

[PCIntern]

47. Oh REALLY?

You have any context at all to make that comment? I do...

[Scootaloo]

49. Yeah. Your response is an odd one to a story about a guy getting sued for a botched circumcision

That's the context of my comment. What's yours?

[spanone]

11. that qualifies as more than 'injury'....imho

[waddirum]

14. witch doctors and other non-physicians...

... should not be performing elective surgery on infants.

[Demo_Chris]

20. yep. nt

[Jester Messiah]

19. All babies are injured during circumcision.

It's barbaric.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. There are Jews who don't circumcise

not a majority, by any means, but I think there's more open-mindedness around not doing it than there used to be.

[Jesus Malverde]

26. If fewer Americans circumcise, will Jews be willing to maintain tradition?

The broader culture has undoubtedly influenced the increased questioning among American Jews about circumcision.

Since 1979, the national rate went down 10 percent overall (or 6 percentage points, to 58 percent). The region with the steepest drop by far was the West, where the overall percentage of newborns circumcised went down 37 percent, to 40 percent.

Especially in the Northeast and Midwest, circumcision has been the mainstream American thing to do. American Jews didn’t have to consider as a factor the possibility that their sons would stand out.

While it’s unclear if the rates will drop further, or rise, the mere possibility raises the question: Would this highly assimilated group of Americans, who in high numbers reject other barometers of religiosity like synagogue membership and belief in God, continue circumcising if they knew it would make their sons look different?

“I’d bet my house on this: As America goes, so will circumcision. If America starts turning against this, give it one generation,” said Shira Stutman, rabbi at the millennial-focused D.C. synagogue, Sixth & I.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/if-fewer-americans-circumcise-will-jews-be-willing-to-stand-out/2013/12/25/f636b5d8-69be-11e3-8b5b-a77187b716a3_story.html

[Warren DeMontague]

30. My hunch is, some will, some won't.

I don't think you'll see monolithic movement either way.

[Jesus Malverde]

34. Agreed, oddly complicated issue...nt

[doc03]

27. I wish I could sue the doctor that cut several inches off

of mine but he died 60 years ago. I got short changed on that deal.

[Crunchy Frog]

33. A baby gets his penis cut off, and a surgeon finds it "exciting".

And some DU "progressives" sniggering like it's some kind of schoolyard joke.

Sick society.

[Jesus Malverde]

36. "Any male who doesn’t circumcise, God says in Genesis, “that soul will be cut off from its people"..

A small but growing number of Jews are questioning the ancient ritual of circumcision

Wallach is among a small but growing number of Jews who are slowly altering what has for millennia been considered perhaps Judaism’s core rite. The Bible says an adult Abraham circumcised himself to mark the covenant between him, his descendants and God. Any male who doesn’t circumcise, God says in Genesis, “that soul will be cut off from its people; he has broken My covenant.”

Many of these Jews, according to rabbis and the ritual circumcisers known as mohels, are rejecting the classic festive circumcision ceremony, called a brit milah, or bris. For thousands of years, Jews have performed the ritual removal of the penile foreskin on the eighth day of a boy’s life, sometimes at the cost of death during periods of anti-Semitism.

A very small percentage, including Wallach, are not circumcising at all. Others, uncomfortable with the joyous, public ceremony around an intimate surgical procedure, are circumcising their sons in the hospital and crafting new baby-welcoming ceremonies days or weeks later for family and friends. Some are having no public service at all.

Meanwhile, there is an unprecedented level of debate among friends, grandparents and couples about whether to circumcise and how. Given that the topic merges sex, religion, identity, culture, gender equity, health politics and anti-Semitism, such discussions can grow intense or acrimonious.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-small-but-growing-number-of-jews-are-questioning-the-ancient-ritual-of-circumcision/2013/12/25/d24c5a4e-6403-11e3-aa81-e1dab1360323_story.html

[Nobody You Know]

41. I'm Jewish, and I find all of these jokes insulting...

And find it a bit tragic. I, too, am a victim of a botched circumcision (the rabbi accidentally poked a second hole but it's been deemed surgically unneccesary to repair, just a bleed), but I am not complaining. My parents made the choice for me, and I appreciate it. I live with the minor scab.

I did that for my son, and I chose a rabbi that was the most experienced of all the rabbis locally (there are 3 mohels serving in my area) and he did a superb job. Explained the whole thing - babies do not have nerves in their penis until they are at least two weeks old, and my son cried, but not from the shock of the circumcision, but the equipment used is very cold (it's all metal, and you wouldn't want to stick that thing when it's cold on your body), but was immediately calmed by a drop or two of wine after the blessings. Rabbi also said Neosporin for the first three days will heal the scar, and boy it did - in three days it was all done.

My guess is the rabbi in the OP stuck the penis incorrectly in this device:



And chopped it off. You're only supposed to expose the foreskin, not the penis.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

44. I absolutely would not let anyone do that to my babies.

I can imagine what my sons would say to me now (the oldest one is almost 40) if I told them I was going to force them to have their penis's cut to suit me. They love their 'as nature intended' willies.

I always say, "Do what you want with your own penis. Leave other people's alone".

[Crunchy Frog]

48. Sorry, but the rabbi doesn't know his anatomy.

The newborn penis certainly does have nerves in it, and certainly does experience sensation, no matter how uncomfortable that fact may be from a religious perspective. This is backed up by plenty of scientific and histological studies. Also, if he didn't have nerves there, then how could he feel the cold? And if it's only the instruments being cold that bothers the baby, then why not just warm them up and solve the problem?

I would never trust a religious official to give accurate scientific information. I don't believe in creationism either.

[Jesus Malverde]

50. nerves

[ZombieHorde]

54. "babies do not have nerves in their penis until they are at least two weeks old"

This isn't true. Male babies have nerves in their penises. Saying otherwise is a bizarre claim. I am guessing it is a religious belief, but I don't really know the origin of this myth.

I personally circumcision to be offensive, but I guess offense is irrelevant in both of our cases.

[Crunchy Frog]

57. There's less discomfort for the adults

if they can convince themselves that the baby isn't feeling any pain. I don't think it's so much a religious belief as a comforting fairy tale.

In you're going to cut off part of your child's genitals, you'll feel much better about it if you believe there are no nerves in them. Or at least I know I would.

It's not just a religious myth either. Until recently, doctors were convinced that babies couldn't feel pain, and happily reassured new parents that there sons wouldn't suffer at all. They even carried out major surgeries (like heart surgery) with nothing but a paralytic, and nothing at all for the pain that they didn't believe existed.

[Gravitycollapse]

56. Yeah...no. Infants have nerves in their penises even at day 1.

[Ms. Toad]

60. While I won't wander into the religious aspects of the debate -

Your rabbi is wrong about this:

"babies do not have nerves in their penis until they are at least two weeks old, and my son cried, but not from the shock of the circumcision, but the equipment used is very cold (it's all metal, and you wouldn't want to stick that thing when it's cold on your body)"

That was the line which was used to justify medical circumcision without anesthesia, as well, and has been thoroughly debunked.

"Circumcision is painful surgery and appropriate intraoperative anaesthesia and postoperative analgesia is required."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22577918

"Male circumcision should be performed by trained and competent practitioners, by using sterile techniques and effective pain management. Analgesia is safe and effective in reducing the procedural pain associated with newborn circumcision; thus, adequate analgesia should be provided whenever newborn circumcision is performed."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22926175

With local anesthesia, 6.5% of infants under a week still experienced pain which was "NIPS > or =2 . . . a painful procedure"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19223238

[JI7]

46. did the Rabbi have any medical background ?

[elleng]

51. Holy Crap, and no pun intended!

Thank goodness my grandson's procedure was done in the hospital, w/o ritual. It was done voluntarily, daughter & son in law not practicing any religious anything. I didn't ask, but obviously there's a reason they elected to do this.

[loudsue]

52. I am against ANY form of genital mutilation unless it is requested by a sane adult

for their OWN body, and not for anybody else's body. Parents, religions, society....NOBODY....has the right to make that kind of decision for a baby, a child, a teen. Only an adult should have the authority and CHOICE about what to do with their own bodies. Genital mutilation should be a CHOICE an adult makes.

[Oakenshield]

61. Strongly agree.

It should be a no-brainer. Would you want someone to start cutting away at you without your explicit consent? I should freaking hope not!

[unblock]

53. just for some perspective, here's a story about a baby drowned during baptism:

i don't go around calling anyone else's religious/traditional rituals barbaric and i would appreciate it if others would kindly refrain from insulting those of us who view this tradition as important. babies don't consent to many, many things and parents are called upon to do what they believe to be in their best interests in many contexts every day. those here you would never consider circumcision for themselves or their sons are more than welcome to express their view that this tradition/procedure is not for them, but please don't insult me and my wife, my parents, my grandparents, and my ancestors going back many generations, based on your intolerance for the traditions of others.




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1298129/Baby-dies-minutes-immersed-times-baptism.html

Priest accused of drowning six-week-old boy during a BAPTISM as family looked on
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
UPDATED: 07:37 EST, 28 July 2010

A priest has been accused of accidentally drowning a six-week-old boy as he baptised him in Moldova.

Witnesses claimed the baby died after Father Valentin failed to cover his mouth and nose when he immersed him in water three times.

Film shot by relatives shows the youngster moving after being taken out of the font, but then suffering difficulty breathing as he is dressed.

Twenty minutes later, he started bleeding from his nose and mouth and died.

...

Doctor Sergiu Raileanu, who examined the tiny tot, confirmed that the baby had drowned.

Police said they have launched a manslaughter investigation. If found guilty, the priest faces up to three years in jail.

[Crunchy Frog]

58. I think full immersion baptisms of infants should be banned as well.

I don't care about the tradition. It's obviously unsafe for the babies.

This is not the first such incident that I've read about.

[Harmony Blue]

55. Male genital mutilation cutlture a.k.a. circumcision

is only prevalent in the United States. Outside of the U.S. it isn't as common thankfully.

[Niceguy1]

59. if I have a boy wr will have it done

But I don't think I could watch....eek