Can you get your child circumcised in a Canadian hospital nowadays?

[helloall]

I just really want to know as I thought we were pretty far ahead in these regards. It would break my heart if I knew they were doing that to kids in my small little community.

Any info would be appreciated thanks.

[Spirit Dancer]

I do not think so but do not know for sure. I live in a fairly large city with two large hospitals and neither hospital will cirumcise a baby. To do so one must call to make an appt with the one dr who will do it who lives 30 min away and charges $400. So most parents will not get it done. Also most delivery drs say it is not necessary. I live in Eastern Canada.

[Tiana]

The hospital I had my son in does do circumcisions.    I live in a medium sized city about an hour away from Toronto.  After my son was born, they asked me once if I was considering it, to which I replied, 'Hell no' and that was it; no one mentioned it to me again.  One of the other mothers in my room did want a circumcision, though, so I heard the nurse explain the payment to her.  It was going to cost about $150 for the doctor and another $150 for the hospital to have it done.  The hospital fee could be billed, but the doctor fee needed to be paid upfront in cash.  The parents did not have that money available and their son left intact.  Hopefully he still is.

[MyBoysBlue]

The circumcision question caught me off guard 9+  years ago when I had my DS in a, then small town, now small city, in Alberta.  The doc came in the day I was leaving to ask if we were wanting to circumcise.  DH and I both answered at the same time "NO" in a puzzled/surprised way.  We hadn't even discussed it.  LOL.  Doc said some thing to the effect of "I just had to offer you the info if you wanted, as I don't do them and you would need to make an appt"  I assumed from the "make an appt" that they are not done in the hospital. 

[Tiana]

Seeing as Alberta has our country's highest circumcision rate (close to 50% ), I would assume most hospitals do offer at least one doctor who will perform them.

[calngavinsmom]

I live in St.Catharines, Ontario (Near Niagara Falls)  and unfortunately they do offer this "service" in hospital here.  When I had my boys, 2001, 2004, it cost 250 if you did it before you were discharged and 275 if you made an appointment to have it done as an outpatient procedure (talk about incentive to get it done before you leave ) 

Most boys are left intact here, but there are still far too many being cut (any are too many, but YKWIM)  including my own stepsisters son poor baby!

I also heard that it is up to around 500 bucks now from a girl at work who just had a boy last year, so maybe they are trying to discourage it by hitting people in the pocketbook, but IMO, it just needs to be outright banned.

Take care!

[MyBoysBlue]

Alberta was 44.3% in 2006/07.  Which was the highest rate in Canada.  http://www.courtchallenge.com/refs/yr99p-e.html  Those are the most recent stats I could find.

[hakunangovi]

I can't answer with respect to a hospital per se.  However one can get a child circumcised in most cities in Canada without much trouble.  It seems that even if there is no reason to, other than parental desire, one can usualy find a doctor to do it, who will then make up some excuse like "phimosis" to justify the procedure.

I talked to my doctor last year about the rate in Alberta, and she stated that a good 50% of the boys that she sees are circumcised, and that it has only been in the last five years that circumcising has become less popular.

[japonica]

Originally Posted by Tiana 

Seeing as Alberta has our country's highest circumcision rate (close to 50% ), I would assume most hospitals do offer at least one doctor who will perform them.

Yes, there's still at least one hospital in Edmonton who does them. A friend of mine brought her son in. Three of us with intact sons gave her all the info that she requested, but she and her husband chose to go ahead anyway.

Whoa, $500...you'd think that would be enough of a deterrent. That's a lot of money when there's so many other newborn supplies to pay for...

[MichelleZB]

I live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and there are two doctors who will perform it in our hospital on an out-patient basis. You have to pay the hospital $200 and then sketchily pay the doctor $250 in cash only. LOL I can't believe some people still do it when it sets you back $450 bucks!

[MyBoysBlue]

My sister had her son in BC just this spring, 2011, and it would have cost $300 to get it done.  Fortunately her boyfriend didn't have the money as he was unemployed, he wasn't aware it would cost and hadn't saved up or borrowed the money.  She didn't want it done but was made to feel too dumb to argue with him, he was abusive and she left him when the baby was just 2 weeks old and has full custody.