Ontario infant dies after circumcision
Mark Brennae
© CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, June 14, 2007
OTTAWA—A one-week-old Ontario infant died from
complications after undergoing a circumcision in a
provincial hospital.
Information about the case was published in the
April edition of Paediatric Child Health.
The baby, whose name has been withheld by the
parents, passed away after his bladder became enlarged
to seven times their normal size.
The child was born at an unidentified Ontario
hospital "sometime in the last three years," said Dr.
Jim Cairns, Ontario's deputy chief coroner. "The family
wants to keep this anonymous."
No charges were ever laid and no legal action was
ever taken in the case.
According to the Paediatric Child Health article,
the boy was "bottlefed and was reported to be doing
well when he was circumsized."
Five hours later, the parents returned to their
family doctor with the infant, who had become
"irritable and had blue discoloration" below the belly
button.
Doctors noticed the discoloration and slight
swelling of the penis, but sent the child home.
Fourteen hours after the circumcision, according to
Cairns, the child was brought to another hospital where
doctors noted he was extremely irritable with marked
swelling of the penis and bruising to the scrotum.
The child was then transferred to a paediatric
centre, where his bladder was diagnosed, Cairns said,
to "seven or eight times its normal size."
The PlastiBell ring, which is used to hold back the
foreskin after circumcision, was removed and drained
and the child went into shock.
"If the PlastiBell had been taken off five hours
after he got there, he would be alive," said
Cairns.
The child's death was attributed to septic
shock—"an overwhelming infection, leading to
multi-organ failure," Cairns said.
"Death is rare after circumcision," said Cairns.
"But complications can happen."
The case was brought to Cairns's attention because
the circumstances of every death of an Ontario child
under five years of age must be reviewed by the
provincial coroner's office.
© CanWest News Service 2007
|