Infant sustains partial amputation during bris Parents say they suffered severe emotional distress

[tony12345]

I thought I would pass this along from ARCLAW

-Tony


Massachusetts attorney Les Wallerstein kindly sent us notice of this major recent settlement in his state. Circumcision cases seem to be settling for substantially higher sums these days.




Steven Svoboda

Attorneys for the Rights of the Child



Infant sustains partial amputation during bris

Parents say they suffered severe emotional distress; $700,000 settlement

Published: 9:25 am Thu, June 21, 2012

By Mass. Lawyers Weekly Staff



An 8-day-old baby suffered an amputation of a portion of the ventral glans of his penis at a Jewish brit milah circumcision ceremony, or bris, at a private residence. The plaintiffs maintained that the doctor/mohel was negligent in his performance of the procedure.



The doctor/mohel allegedly failed to re-examine the child between the ceremony and the time that the child left for the hospital. Upon arrival, the child was rushed to an operating room for emergency surgery as a result of an amputation of his ventral glans and a traumatic hypospadias, or damage to the opening of the urethra.



The child was released from the hospital the following day with a catheter inserted into his penis, only to return to the hospital later that night because the catheter had fallen out. After a lengthy effort to re-insert the catheter, during which time the child screamed in agony, a decision was made to have family members insert a tube into the child’s penis numerous times a day over a 10-day period.



The child suffers from a permanently disfigured penis, a hypospadias and remaining foreskin. He has experienced night terrors and may require further surgery for medical and/or cosmetic reasons.



His parents, who claimed to have suffered severe emotional distress, fear the emotional difficulties the child will face as he matures and deals with, among other things, school locker rooms and/or romantic relationships.



Action: Medical malpractice



Injuries alleged: Amputation of portion of ventral glans, emotional damage



Case name: Withheld



Court/case no.: Withheld



Jury and/or judge: N/A (mediated)



Amount: $700,000



Date: March 2012



Most helpful experts: Henry E. Simkin, M.D., and John P. Gearhart, M.D.



Attorneys: Paul J. Klehm, James B. Krasnoo and Benjamin L. Falkner, of Krasnoo|Klehm, Andover (for the plaintiffs)

[Dutch]

$700,000 isn't much for what that baby/boy/adult man will suffer throughout his entire life. I would think that the emotional trauma, physical trauma, need for surgeries now and perhaps later on in life, lack of normal functioning and pleasure would be worth much more than that.

[antibunk]

$700,000 isn't much for what that baby/boy/adult man will suffer throughout his entire life. I would think that the emotional trauma, physical trauma, need for surgeries now and perhaps later on in life, lack of normal functioning and pleasure would be worth much more than that.

That was the first thing I thought. After the attorneys take their 1/3rd, court costs, expert fees, etc., you are probably looking at around $400,000 plus change. Would you be willing to take 400 grand to incur that kind of damage to your penis? Not me!

A jury awarded a woman $2.7 million for spilling hot McDonalds coffee on her lap. It was later reduced to $640,000. Now, I may be willing to take $640,000 to spill hot coffee on myself...as long as I had some foreskin to protect my glans.

[Them Boots]

Hope those parents sit down and think long and hard about how all this pain and suffering could have been avoided if the infant's penis had been left alone in the first place.

[Purist]

The lawsuit seems to arise from the "the penis wasn't damaged- only the foreskin was removed" logic. So I'm not sure how this can be seen as progress for intactivism.

[DPX1]

"child suffers from remaining foreskin"

Did this irk anyone else?

OH NO! GOD FORBID HE HAS SOME DISFIGURING FORESKIN!