CIN CompuBulletin Circumcision Information Network Volume 2, Number 26, 5 August 1995 MORE CIRCUMCISION DEATH Contributed by George Hill, DYKS96A@prodigy.com HOUSTON CHRONICLE, Friday, July 28, 1995 BOY'S DEATH TO BE PROBED: PHYSICIAN IS SUSPENDED by Lydia Lee and Ruth Sorelle Saying they fear a "serious and immediate threat to public health." Texas Department of health Officials sought permission Friday to investigate the death of a 5-year-old boy after a circumcision. Meanwhile, Doctor's Hospital-Airline has suspended the anesthesiologist present during the July 18 circumcision pending outcome of a peer review investigation and final autopsy of Jeremie Johnson. The boy died Tuesday after a week in a coma and on life support. Dr. T. Jose Tovar was suspended July 18; said Doctor's Hospital-Airline spokeswoman Jan Haines. Family members said they brought the boy to the hospital for the 30-minute procedure but he stopped breathing afterward and had to be resuscitated. A secretary for Tovar said the physician declined comment. Haines called he suspension routine in such instances. "Dr. Tovar has had many good years at this hospital," she said. He has always been in good standing here and many know him in his field." In Austin, spokesman David Vaughn said TDH officials asked the Federal Health Care Finance Administration, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid payments, to allow the state to find out why the boy died. The health department's bureau of health care quality and standards and the HCFA share responsibility to monitor patients' treatment in Texas hospitals, Vaughn said. He said he expects the investigation to begin early next week. The boy's mother, British Gaines, expressed frustration Friday at the lack of explanation as to why the boy went into a coma. Preliminary autopsy results from Texas Children's Hospital released to her Friday only described the boy's medical condition when he was transferred to Texas Children's on July 18, Gaines said. Final results are not expected for another eight weeks. "It's very sad because I was thinking we'd actually find something, but there are just these big, medical terms that don't tell us anything we don't already know," said Gaines, 23. In recent years, fewer boys have been circumcised because of conflicting medical opinion as to its necessity. But in some cases, medical conditions make it necessary. Gaines said she thought the procedure on her son was successful until Dr. Michael Morris, who performed the circumcision, told her the boy's heart had stopped and that he had resuscitated him. Johnson was immediately transferred to Texas Children's where he was in intensive care until his family decided to have him removed from a respirator Tuesday. Gaines said Morris visited her son at Texas Children's to examine the results of the circumcision. She said Tovar also visited them at Texas Children's on July 18. "He said he was sorry, that he didn't know what happened, and he patted me on the back," Gaines said. CRUELTY TO ANIMALS NO; CRUELTY TO BOYS, YES Contributed by Gary Burlingame, gburlin@eskimo.com August 1995, Vol. 11, No. 8 Delicious! Our Magazine of Natural Living Boulder Colorado The article is under the "Body & Spirit" section, and is entitled, "Cruelty-Free Options To Animal Testing". It was written by Kathe A. Conti, and includes this passage: "Growing human skin in the laboratory is an alternative to animal testing. Skin cells are removed from a baby boy's circumcised foreskin to grow skin cells in the laboratory. Skin kits are then sent to companies where they're exposed to cosmetics, fragrances, sunscreens or ultraviolet light. The skin sends out chemical distress signals, just like a person's skin. Researchers then know the material is harmful to human skin. No animal or human, however, is harmed by these tests, but the safety of the product is evaluated." MARCHERS IN GREENBRAE PROTEST CIRCUMCISION: CLAIM PROCEDURE MUTILATES INFANTS Marin Independent Journal, Sunday, 30 July 1995, California by Ingrid Becker (Contributed by George Hill, DYKS96A@prodigy.com) Children's rights advocates, some from as for away as New York and North Dakota, marched in Greenbrae to protest circumcision yesterday. About 60 placard waving demonstrators walked from the College of Marin to a field across from Marin General Hospital, where they staged mock circumcisions on rag dolls while a tape of screaming newborns played in the background. "I am vehemently opposed to the mutilation of infants," said Miriam Schwartz of San Rafael. The demonstration was organized by members of NOHARMM--National Organization to Halt the Abuse and Routine Mutilation of Males. Group founder Tim Hammond of San Francisco said members feel physicians are not fully informing parents of the pain, risks and potential complications of removing an infant's foreskin. The problems, he said, include scarring and sexual dysfunction. "To impose circumcision on an unconsenting minor without disease or abnormality raises serious questions of ethics and human rights," Hammond asserted. The group said it singled out Marin General for two reasons: In May 1994, an infant boy suffered a serious surgical complication during a circumcision. And 10 years ago, an obstetrics nurse was forced to resign after patients complained about her speaking out against circumcision. Editor's note: The actual head count was 78. Demonstrators actually came from as far away as Toronto, Hawaii, and B.C., as well. The correct date of the botched circumcision was May 1993. PROTEST IN MARIN COUNTY: AN ACTIVIST'S POINT OF VIEW (Contributor's name withheld) [The] demonstrators marched from the College of Marin to Marin General Hospital, which was the site of a circumcision accident two years ago that cost a baby the end of his glans, and the hospital that fired NOCIRC founder Marilyn Milos for obtaining informed consent by showing parents videotape of the procedure. Hospital security was evident. Maybe they haven't realized that the goal is to reduce violence in the world, especially against children. One demonstrator was heard to shout: "Shouldn't you be watching for escapes from the circ room?" When the demonstrators were cautioned about the hospital quiet zone, Marilyn Milos observed: "It isn't quiet inside when the babies are screaming!" Drivers slowed down to read the signs, such as: "Circumcision = $, doctors profit, babies lose," and "Don't boys have rights too?, and "Circumcision is surgical child abuse!" The vast majority of onlookers were supportive, and some responses were memorable--such as the woman in the beige BMW who honked her car horn so enthusiastically. People on the streets do get the message. There was no confrontation with hospital staff, who remained behind closed doors, with the exception of a public relations officer who was clearly unhappy with what the protesters were doing to the hospital's image.