Point one: The boy DID NOT want to be circuncised.
Point two: His infections was not serious enough to warrant circumcision but the ex-wife wanted it done as a possible preventative measure.
What the hell are you talking about? Try reading the article again.
The article I read in the Chicago Tribune this morning did state that the boy had said he didn’t want to be circumcised, and that the judge had said the evidence did not sufficiently support the idea of circumcision to prevent infection.
Actually, the court affirmed the legal guardian’s non-right to make a decision if the non-legal guardian objects.
Boy, I sure bumped a hornet’s nest with that one. 
Actually, tonsillectomies are rarely done these days, except in cases where the infection has gotten completely out of hand. You can check the AMA, the College of Surgeons, etc. and you’ll find that routine circumcision is no longer the consensus, except for religious reasons.
I’m not an MD. I’m not a Jew or a Muslim. Hardly any of us remembers anything from the first week of life, but I can guarantee a 9-year-old boy will never forget the day he woke up from having part of his penis sliced off. This is no sebaceous cyst we’re talking about, it’s his penis. :eek:
I grant that tonsillectomies are not as common as they used to be, but they are hardly rare. They are still a very commonly done surgery. I had mine taken out a few years ago and there were several others being done at my Dr’s office that day. They are even still commonly taken out for reasons other than infection:
“Approximately 500,000 tonsillectomies are performed on children each year, making it the second most common childhood surgery performed in the United States. Although tonsils may need to be removed because of repeated infections, they are more likely to be taken out because they’ve grown too large for the child’s airway, which can result in snoring and other breathing disorders and may affect quality of sleep.”
http://www.or-live.com/georgetownhospital/1149/
I have also had my wisdom teeth taken out as a preventative measure (nothing wrong with them when they were removed) and my gall bladder removed. I will “never forget” having those surgeries done either but I was hardly traumatized by them, in fact my daily life was much improved. I would guess that having a recurringly infected penis is no fun either.
The father seems to be using this as a power play, or using the same rationale I have seen people use to not neuter their dogs “But it’s his penis! Don’t mess with his penis!”
Never mind that the kid is in pain. I am guessing that if it were a simple matter of washing, the child’s Dr. would be teaching that instead of recommending surgery.
Really? Huh! Rarely? Are you sure?
First off, I’m circumsized. I’m glad I am… but that’s primarily because I’m circumsized, I bet. I’m not really sure how I feel about forcing circumcision on boys who can’t make their own decision for something which is pretty damned permanent. I can certainly respect the father for wanting to prevent (theoretically) unnecessary surgery.
However, it really bothers me that the non-custodial parent has so little influence on the child’s life. The default divorce judgement is yet another example of an NCP being viewed as nothing more than a wallet in most divorces. I’m glad he won the right to have that sort of input on his son’s life, and I wish it was a HELL of a lot more common.
:: SoooOOOooo inappropiate. ::
Having had a circumcision at the age of 23, I can concur that it is not something that you forget easily. Mind you, neither do I forget how painful it was to get an erection or how sex was nigh-on impossible beforehand!
Now I’m absolutely against circumcision for it’s own sake. Likewise, I’d be against tonsilectomies or removal of the appendix for no reason either. In this case, however, it is pretty clear that this could be a preventative measure that will ease the kid out.
Oh, and incidentally, if the boy did say he didn’t want it, that’s probably because he is unable to see that it might be useful - especially if his Dad is telling him he’s gonna get his pecker chopped off! No one wants to have an operation, but sometimes it’s the best thing in the long run. I can’t believe the doctors don’t have a near unanimous decision on this. Perhaps it’s because the whole issue seems (especially in the US) to have such cultural/psychological roots…?
Well, to be fair, I think you brought the hornets with you.
Relative to when I was a child, yes. I was born in 1949, had my T&A at age three, my earliest memory. Back then, lopping off the tonsils and adenoids was the standard cure for a sore throated child. In fact, parents who could afford it often had it done as a preventative. Hardly anybody my age still has tonsils. Now, the doctor’s first twitch is antibiotics.
Velma corrects my “rare” (and I appreciate that), but compared to “universal” in the time of my childhood, it is still vastly reduced.
This is a baseless assumption and yes it is his penis. Who should have more input on the matter - the parent with a penis or the one without a penis?
Did your dentist teach you to brush and floss after each meal? Did you? The kids nine years old. You’d be lucky if he’s consistently using soap in the shower.
I’ve read assorted conflicting things about this particular case, including that the boy’s mother had re-married, this time to a Jewish man (but also, that this was not being done for religious reasons). I have read that the boy went to his mother, begging for help, and that he also said he didn’t want to be circumcised.
I am utterly against routine surgeries as “preventative medicine”, but I am not at all opposed to necessary surgeries.
If more than one medical doctor felt that these recurrent infections could not reasonably be controlled or managed or prevented with cleanliness and/or antibiotics, and if the boy understood both short- and long-term effects, good and bad…then I cannot think why a boy that age could not say “Yes, I want that.” My niece chose to have her tonsils out at age 9 because she was sick all the time, horrid sore throats, missing school. She is a healthy child now. She chose it for her own health. I had and have no problem with that.
Unfortunately, none of us have enough information to know if this boy in the legal case has been ill-served, well-served, or just used in the battle between the exes.
That’s not the right analogy. Compare it rather to someone with a chronic condition that must be actively managed - say, diet-controlled diabetes, or maybe chronically dry skin that cracks and bleeds unless it is kept moisturized at night. When you know you must do this thing once a day, or you will HURT sooner rather than later, you will learn to do it. Bathing isn’t anything the same, and even dental care isn’t the same, because for most people, teeth take time to accumulate damage.
I don’t have any boys, but I do have girls (including one roughly the age of this boy in the story), and every night we go through the same routine, and they never enjoy it: brush (long, often tangly) hair, brush teeth, floss teeth. But it is the routine. They do it because it’s what they’re expected to do. I don’t see why a boy cannot be required to wash at least once daily, if this would prevent future infections?