When Vera Delgado left her son Mario in the neonatal intensive care unit, she thought he was in good hands. The new mom left to go home to shower and for a fresh change of clothes and in the brief time she was gone the staff at the hospital preformed a circumcision on her eight day old son. When she returned she was horrified to find out that they had preformed the procedure against her wishes.
According to staff at the hospital the baby’s medical charts, consent form, and wrist band were misread.
Now, Vera has filed a one million dollar lawsuit against the hospital for ‘assault and battery on a newborn’.
Vera’s lawyer Spencer Aronfeld was quoted saying,
“this is not medical malpractice; we are suing for battery, an unauthorized assault on this baby. They took a knife to him without his parent’s permission. The baby was in neonatal intensive care with complications from a birth-related infection. They took the baby out and amputated healthy tissue from the penis in an irreversible procedure”.
When the staff at the hospital asked her if she would like her baby circumcised she told them over and over that she did not want them to perform the procedure on her child.
A representative from the south Miami Hospital was quoted saying
“The baby’s circumcision was an unfortunate mistake caused by a misread consent form. As soon as the error was discovered, the doctor and nurses let the family know what had occurred. We also immediately implemented new processes to ensure this mistake will not occur again. The procedure itself was performed following appropriate surgical guidelines and the baby didn’t have any complications. Nevertheless, we’re all deeply sorry that this happened.”
David Wilson founder of SIC Society (Stop the Infant Circumcision Society) and other medical professional believe that circumcisions should remain a choice that the parents of the infant should make regardless of others medical or religious opinions.
Parents within the United States are choosing not to circumcise their babies. Rates are rapidly decreases in 2006 fifty three percent were receiving the procedure in 2009 only thirty three percent are receiving the procedure, a significant decrease has occurred within the last three year. – Jeff, Staff Writer
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It sucks that the hospital made this mistake, but it’s not worth a million dollars.
Oh yes it is! I would be extremely mad if this had happened to my son without my consent!
You know, this can happen anywhere, and to anyone, and yes — if it were your body that had something removed without your permission, I bet you’d think it were worth a million dollars.
When I had my third son, a nurse came in while another nurse was taking my vitals and removed my son from my room. I assumed she was taking him for a well-baby check, but I thought — just as she was headed out the door — to ask, and thank GOD I did, because she told me she was taking him for his circ. I did not sign any consent papers for him to be circed. I did not want him to be circed. In fact, I’d noted quite clearly on all his forms that I did NOT WANT HIM CIRCED. I’d stated over and over again that I did not want the procedure, and I’d made it clear. I went borderline crazy on the woman, but you better believe she brought my infant back. And had they cut off 30% of his functioning penile skin (yes, that is how much they remove in a circumcision), I’d have sued that hospital for everything I could, and they’d have sent my son and his brothers to college. Not because I wanted the money, but because they needed the message that what they did was wrong, that it was assault, that it was CRIMINAL. It wasn’t a podunk little hospital, either; it was one of the top ten hospitals in the country, according to US News — it *consistently ranks as one of the best and has for decades.