Doctors' Own Families and Circ?

[MarnieMax]

Most of us travel in circles that are crunchy and progressive, so the idea of intactness is close to the norm. I have an online contact in a large midwestern city. I did find out that she left her son (3 mos) intact. She works as a nurse in L&D at a mainstream hospital and said that a large fraction of the physicians have left their own sons intact....the incidence of RIC amongst the hospital's own staff and visiting physicians is much lower than that of the mainstream population birthing there.

So I bring this to our group .... have you heard of similar things? It would give me hope that given time, the circumcision 'tradition' would disappear, even in conservative, bottle-fed areas.

[mommymarliah]

so far 2 out of 3 docs I have talked to about it have left thier kids intact.

Sadly the one was VERY misled and was the who tried to tell me retraction at each diaper change was essential and even tried to retract my son once in his office. I put him in his place REAL fast, when I did he explained that he has intact sons and knows how to care for the intact penis, I told him he was wrong, and the next visit handed him a pamphlet on intact penis care and a letter signed by me for our file saying he was never to touch my sons penis again without my espressed permission.

I ended up leaving that doc anyway, he was a liar and a manipulator. He lied to me about vaccines, he said 1)there was no mercury in the ones he used (which was a lie). 2) he said my sons immediate regression after vaccines was in no way related to them 3) he told me time and time again my son was fine and laughed when I voiced concerns about autism (which ended up in my son not recieving his diagnosis until he was 5, I intially voiced concern at 18 months and ever visit thereafter) 4) when I said I did not want one of the vaxxes (the CP vax) he told me how he personally had seen many children die of CP and that I would be willingly putting my son at risk by not vaxxing him and asked if I wanted him to be seriously injured or dead because I didn't want to vax (I was a young mom 19 years old, and easily swayed, so I said go ahead, I regret that decision very, very much )

The other doc was my OB, she was a woman with sons of her own and was very happy when I told her I would not be circing our 3rd. She told me she had never regretted not circing her boys and was always glad to hear parents would not be doing that to their sons.

[phatchristy]

Well, the pediatricians I know both have intact sons. What disturbs me more is that they came out and told me only after I said we were keeping our son whole....then it was a "Oh, I agree with you completely, I never saw a reason to amputate healthy tissue, so we didnt' do that to our son either...etc." But, then I find out from other moms that they didn't say ANYTHING negative about it when the parents wanted to circ their kiddos. :

It makes me mentally tired to see how they're so worried about "offending" clients and losing business so they won't honestly state their feelings about circ being unnecessary.

[Super Pickle]

I used to live in an urban Midwestern neighborhood near a large hospital, and most of the physicians I knew left their sons intact. But most of the docs I knew were of Asian or Indian descent. Unfortunately, I found out recently that an old friend had had a boy, and even though her DH is a pediatrician, they had him circumcised. But he was raised in a family that's all about appearances and "keeping up with the Joneses," so I can't say I'm terribly surprised.

[Quirky]

I had an OB friend who left her own two sons intact.....but circed other babies anyway. On the theory that "well, better I do it so they get pain relief at least." Not friends with her any more. I hate the hypocrisy and the double standards. All doctors have the ethical and legal duty to educate people on surgeries (not to mention protect their patients' best interests, and the patient's interest is always in not being circed). The wimping-out, not telling people that circ is harmful, and just going with whatever the parents want....it's a huge moral failing IMO.

[hakunangovi]

Quirky hit the nail on the head - "double standard". This certainly seems to be the case, and the Hippocratic Oath is long forgotten.

I know a doctor, long retired, who told me that they "circumcised all the boys born in that hospital UNLESS THE MOTHER HAD SERIOUS OBJECTIONS". This same man left his own son intact - born in the early '70s. He knew RIC was wrong, but did not appear to discourage any of his patients, and back then, my guess is that they probably did circs with or without permission, unless the parents had expressly forbidden it.

Yes, the hypocrisy is truly mind boggling.

[titania8]

Originally Posted by phatchristy

Well, the pediatricians I know both have intact sons. What disturbs me more is that they came out and told me only after I said we were keeping our son whole....then it was a "Oh, I agree with you completely, I never saw a reason to amputate healthy tissue, so we didnt' do that to our son either...etc." But, then I find out from other moms that they didn't say ANYTHING negative about it when the parents wanted to circ their kiddos. :

It makes me mentally tired to see how they're so worried about "offending" clients and losing business so they won't honestly state their feelings about circ being unnecessary.

but the truth is that its not just the drs opinion, its fact! ric is unnecessary. period. for any reason. they are not doing their jobs if they don't say so. but of course, they gotta get paid, right?