New York Times, Letters to the Editor Section, Wednesday, May 29, 1996

Newborns Feel Pain (Title of Letters sub section)

To the Editor:

I was surprised by Rabbi Eugene J. Cohen's statement (letter, May 25) that
"neurologists have assured us that because the baby's nervous system is
undeveloped at the time of circumcision, he cannot feel pain."

Recent studies like those reviewed in the Aug. 25, 1994, New England Journal
of Medicine, using physiologic measures of distress (for example, heart rate
and oxygen saturation), have dispelled this scientifically unfounded notion>
and demonstrated that the youngest infants do feel pain.  Pediatricians have
responded by changing their practice and using anesthetics for painful
procedures, even in premature newborns.

ALAN MEYERS, MD.
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Boston U. School of Medicine
Boston, May 25, 1996