News

Laura MacDonald
(This page does not contain medical advice)

Finnish parents fined for the painful circumcision of their son

Friday 12th March 2010
The Finnish District Court has ordered a couple to pay compensation of 1,500 Euros and given them a 40-day suspended prison sentence for inflicting a painful circumcision on their son.

The baby was operated on by British Rabbi Yossi Simon with no anaesthetic, and was restrained by his grandfather.
In the afternoon of the following day he was rushed to hospital with uncontrolled bleeding and was kept in overnight for treatment. The Jewish Chronicle reports that the British police did not co-operate with the Finnish authorities in relation to prosecution of Rabbi Simon, and that he will not face charges in the UK.

Many people believe circumcision involves only minor and transient pain - but the evidence contradicts this belief. There are over 35 studies of infant pain in circumcision and it is now acknowledged as "severe and persistent". Although the trauma may not be consciously remembered, babies circumcised without pain relief show an exaggerated response when they encounter pain later in life. Neurologists at University College London have shown that the newborn's response to pain is greater and more prolongued than in an adult or an older child, and that inflicting pain in the neonatal period does unique and lifelong damage to the nervous system. This research raised concerns about babies unavoidably exposed to painful procedures during a spell in intensive care - and begs the question, why do we sanction a very painful and medically unnecessary surgery on healthy newborns?

Specific studies of infant circumcision pain have shown it can cause a baby's heart rate to rise by almost 50%. Levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) can triple or quadruple. Prolongued crying may result in breathing difficulties and a significant drop in blood oxygenation. Californian Paediatrician Paul Fleiss writing in the Lancet in 1995 pointed out that the measurements of trauma from infant circumcision are "consistent with torture".

NORM-UK calls on the British authorities, including the General Medical Council, the Police and the Safeguarding Children Teams to protect all children from wilfully inflicted pain and from any forced genital alteration, irrespective of ethnicity or gender.

Every Child Matters should mean just that.