Vol , Issue Date of Publication: July 01, 2000

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LETTERS


Routine medical circumcision

I am an American social worker seeking information on the ethics of routine medical circumcision. I find lots of medical arguments for and against the practice, but almost nothing on its ethics.

The practice entails many ethically questionable aspects: Surgery is done in the absence of any pathology. The patient is unable to consent, a problem compounded by the fact that the practice is controversial. Surgery is not delayed until the patient comes of age. It is not the least intrusive, restrictive treatment for urinary tract infection. It results in irreversible infringement of bodily integrity and loss of erogenous tissue. It is done for the family’s preference, rather than the patient’s medical needs. There is also the question of paternalism: individual doctors “know better” than the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical societies, none of which recommend circumcision.

This seems worthy of ethicists’ attention. Are you aware of any literature on this topic?

Tom Morris, [email protected]

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