Baby Boys Circumcision

Hi A.,

I don't blame you at all for your reaction one bit. My son was circumcised the day after he was born and it looks like the full procedure was done. Of course, now that he's 14 I haven't see any private parts for a few years now....but I digress.

Providers don't do procedures that they think are not medically necessary. For example, if I'm having upper gastric symptoms or complaints, they'll do just an upper endoscopy because they can't justify or bill for a colonoscopy without further presenting complaints or obvious symptoms, such as bleeding.

What I'm gleaning from this is that they felt that the partial would be sufficient for his health and well being going forward. I would absolutely look into having it "corrected" by a specialist and the sooner the better because it is a surgical procedure and you'll want to minimize any pain and recovery time.

I agree also that a conversation with the hospital would be a good idea. Do Not start with the call center, take this one straight to someone who can intervene at the administrative level, and find out what the reasoning behind their decision was. I would like to see a copy of the record but there are laws governing that so you may not have access but you should absolutely have the right to determine what the reasoning/logic was and to inform them of how poorly they handled the situation in terms of giving you sufficient information and obtaining consent.

He's going to be fine....keep on loving him and taking such good care of him. :-) S.

you can go to a pediatric urologist and talk with him/her to fix it.

I am sorry you have experienced this. I don't blame you for being upset at having not been fully informed.

I would suggest that you contact a pediatric urologist, especially one who does circumcisions. Get another opinion and find out what can/should be done. Find out if it's true that this will "always be like that" or if additional work can be done.

Are you concerned because you didn't get what you wanted? That he won't look like his father? That he will have problems later on, either medical or social? Are you Jewish and do you have concerns that this doesn't "qualify"?

There are many urologists who do this for infants routinely, and there are quite a few who also do it as part of the Jewish ritual of "brit milah", ritual circumcision. Not all Jewish circumcisions are performed by urologists, no different from "secular" ones. Our son was circumcised by the obstetrician in the hospital, but not with Jewish ritual. So we later went to a Jewish urologist qualified to be a mohel, and we had a brief ritual done (not what you are talking about - no additional skin was removed) and got a certificate for religious purposes. I wonder if there's more that can be done to meet your needs.

Ask your pediatrician for a referral, if you trust her to be sensitive to your concerns. Otherwise, contact your insurance company for a urologist in your network, and call and ask if they are open to discussing this.

ETA: I just read the comments below about an "irreversible decision" and "maybe next time you'll make sure..." First of all, you aren't trying to reverse this, just complete it, right? And secondly, you were postpartum and exhausted and hormonal - I don't blame you for not asking questions to inquire if there were two types of circumcision. Don't blame yourself.

I'd take him to a pediatric urologist and have it corrected.
Our son was done in the hospital day after he was born and they did an excellent job.
No flaps of skin left and no problems with any adhesions.

I think the problem lies with the way you were consulted. When my ds was circumcised the staff described what would be done, how it was done, etc. If they actually simply asked you "are you having him circumcised" and took him away to do it, that seems very lax and irresponsible. I would consider going back to the hospital where he was born and inquiring about their routine procedures and why a partial was done.

It seems that a partial one could be completed? It's not like you requested a partial and they did a full one - that's irreversible.

I respect your decision but it sounds like the hospital did not, and did not inform you sufficiently. Please consult a specialist and ask to see the hospital records from the birth.

I agree with you. Circumcision is a specific thing. Partial circumcision is another specific thing. I would tell the doc that they obviously misunderstood what was expected and that I'd like them to fix this now or refund me the money paid for the surgery that was not done correctly. Just to see if they'd cave.

I haven't read the other comments yet. I want to speak to this issue from my own heart, reading only your post.

I would be very upset too if I were in your shoes. I would call the head of hospital administration and give them an earful. I'd also call a lawyer and ask him or her to write them a letter demanding that the procedure be re-done at no cost to you and that they have their best and most experienced surgeon for this particular procedure do it.

You need to take care of this now while your baby is still small. It's harder later. My neighbor's son had it done in 3rd grade after having to wait until his urinary problems from birth were corrected. It was really painful by then. You are exactly right in your assessment - not really circumcized, not uncircumcized. Your son won't look like anyone else. He has to be in one camp or the other - not the middle.

Don't just let them brush you off on this. It's important to deal with it.

see if the pedi has a pediatric urologist recomendation. a partial circ can be completed, you just have to make the appt with the dr that does it. and if you are super upset you could talk to the dr that performed the circ to find out why they did a partial.