# At what age does someone gain the legal right to not be circumcised? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-someone-gain-the-legal-right-to-not-be-circumcised/600730 "2011-10-25T12:13:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 17
**Author:** ![Amasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-someone-gain-the-legal-right-to-not-be-circumcised/600730/17 "2011-10-26T15:06:36Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > You said “medical treatment.” Unnecessary elective surgery doesn’t meet the definition of medical treatment, because it’s elective. Perhaps you consider this unnecessarily pedantic, but I work in insurance. I do think that’s unnecessarily pedantic- I’m referring to the common meaning of the term, not a specific industry term (particularly when we are not discussing insurance/insurance coverage). I can also find references to other industries that would include treatment more broadly. The point is medical care. > [@What do you do at a bad movie?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-at-a-bad-movie/72270/14): > > 1What about the case of a child who refuses chemotherapy, and whose parents refuse to make him get chemotherapy, but [the judge orders him to get it anyway](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30763438/ns/health-childrens_health/t/judge-rules-family-cant-refuse-chemo-boy/#.Tqekfls0iuI)? From that link: “If chemotherapy is ordered and the family refuses, the judge said, Daniel will be placed in temporary custody.” > [@rachelellogram](#): > > Or, if you will, reference the case of Katie Wernecke, who was put in foster care and provided with chemotherapy for a lymphoma against her parents’ will. In both of these cases, the focus is more that the parents would not consent. The court in each instances appears to have determined that in fact the parents were not able to withhold consent/consent for their child and that the child was not able to consent/withhold consent. There are much more cases about parental lack of capacity to consent for their child, tied in with child brainwashing. The fact that a judge stepped in each time demonstrates how parents may not always consent for their children, and if they children were competent (which they are not due to their parents brainwashing), they would probably be consenting for themselves. The removal into state custody in your second example raises a whole other set of issues and consent requirements, but basically further demonstrates that the parents were unable to care for their children (in the opinion of the state). I have expertise in foster care consent to medical care, so I will not derail this thread with that topic but am happy to continue in a new thread if you really care. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-age-does-someone-gain-the-legal-right-to-not-be-circumcised/600730)._