CIN (Circumcision Information Network) 2:26

Introduction
This weekly bulletin is a project of CIN, the Circumcision Information Network (formerly CIN CompuBulletin). The purpose of this weekly bulletin is to educate the public about and to protect children and other non-consenting persons from genital mutilation. Readers are encouraged to copy and redistribute it, and to contribute written material.
--Rich Angell, Editor.

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. 

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