Circumsision Death Rates

Ok, I know I'm becoming an annoying nag at this point so its the very very last think I will post on this subject for at least a year. This was just too shocking to not share.

http://www.examiner.com/family-health-in-washington-dc/new-study-estimates-neonatal-circumcision-death-rate-higher-than-suffocation-and-auto-accidents

Yearly Neonatal Death Rates (for boys)

44 suffocation
8 auto accidents
115 SIDS
117 circumcision

Granted, death rates, in reality, are probably about double for each of those other things because I'm assuming just about as many girls die from suffocation, auto accidents, and SIDS. Not many girls suffer circumcision complications. But the fact that just as many boys in this country die every year from their circumcision as from SIDS (a problem that has inspired countless TV ads and hospital hand-outs) makes me wonder why oh why oh why dont we hear about this?

Ok, I'm done for real this time.

6 comments:

ivymae said...

Oh my heart breaks for those families. We do better when we know better, and I'm certain those families wish they had had mroe information. Annoying or not, your voice may reach someone who needs this information, so don't let anyone tell you you write about this "too much". 117 deaths is 117 too many.

Anonymous said...

Obviously this is your blog you can say what you'd like but the examiner, much like wikipedia is not a realiable source of information. The man who wrote that article wasn't even a doctor. It's all personal opinion. Here are some stats; uncircumsized males have 12% increase of UTIs, a higher risk of death from complications from UTIS including kidney failure, meningitis and infection of the bone marrow. 1 in 400 men will get cancer of the penis which is 20 times more common. 50-100% higher risk of prostate cancer. 10% of infants who are uncircumsized will have to be circumsized later in life due to things like the skin not growing, inflamation and other infections...
The bottom line is if that were a remotly true statment I'm sure there would be handouts.

Anonymous said...

MommaK Where did you get your stats? They are laughable. I have been researching routine infant circumcision for over 2 years and those statistics are way off.
First of all do you really think that the majority of intact males in the world have all those problems you state?
The UTI rate is higher for girls than it is for intact males. That's what antibiotics are for.
Secondly, we may as well start slicing breast tissue off of our baby girls because it would prevent breast cancer later in life! I have no idea why we don't do that now!!
Third circumcised males get UTI's too so that kinda blows that one out of the water.
Your statements are completely off and not based on fact. There is NO medical association in the world that recommends infant circumcision. None. Not even the AAP. As a matter of fact the AAP states (and you can go look it up) "Existing scientific evidence is not sufficient to recommend routine neonatal circumcision." Other countries go so far as to say (state the obvious) "Routine infant male circumcision performed on a healthy infant is now considered a non-therapeutic and medically unnecessary intervention." The US has the highest infant circ rate in the western world, and not surprisinly the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the western world too. Do you really think the rest of the worlds' intact men (around 80%) are somehow worse off? If your stats were right (50-100% higher risk for prostate cancer lol), that would mean at least half of the worlds intact men are going to lose their penis. Jeez someone better let them know!!
The 10% stat that you gave about babies having to be circ'd later inlife is because people are uneducated when it comes to the function of the intact penis. The foreskin should NEVER EVER be retracted by anyone but the owner of said penis, and sometimes it doesn't happen until puberty. Premature retraction can cause infection and many other things, some of which you stated. A circ'd penis requires ten times more care than an intact penis does. Just an FYI. The foreskin is an amazing piece of anatomy with over 20,000 nerve endings (more than your clitoris btw), is self cleaning, and has protective, sensory and sexual functions.
Also, the number of circ related deaths per year are all avoidable.
I can't believe we are even still talking about slicing pieces off our perfect babies, let alone still DOING it!! It's disgusting and barbaric. The bottom line is that there is no reason to circumcise an infant of any gender. A baby is a person and has the right to the body he/she was born into. Every person, male, female and transgendered has the right to genital integrity.

Anonymous said...

thestationarynomad, as I said anyone can come up with pure opinion as was the facts I found. I wasn't saying they were true but it's just as easy to say they are. no matter what kind of "research" you've done I'd bet the majority if not all of it is biased. Say I want to become vegan so I delve into the world of being a vegan obviously ALL the books are only going to tell you the wonderful fats of being vegan. I want to look for "the horrible facts of cirsumcision" and all I'm going to find is the horrible facts. What *I* was saying was that the examiner is unrealiable.

Domrese Family Blog said...

Wowza. Quite the line of comments! I definitely agree that when you blog you are in your own right to state your opinion. Everyone is allowed that right. To their opinion. I can choose to read or not read your blog. There are times when I choose not to read it. I feel judged. There are times when I love reading it. I feel inspired. This is one where I feel judged. I researched my decision, I did what I felt was best for my kids. Education is key. Judging is not. You cannot judge people for doing what they believe is right for their children. In fact, we should not judge at all.

**No hard feelings btw...like I said, it's my choice to read or not to read. I respect your opinion in several other areas of life and love to read about those things!

Courtney said...

Amber- Thank you so much for the comment. You are right, everyone has the right to blog their opinion and everyone also has the right to not read it!! And what a boring world it would be indeed if no one said anything that might possibly be disagreed with. I would not want to live in that world, nor would I even want to choose friends from it.

Walking the line of talking about something you are passionate about while still being loving toward people who make a different decision (or are even passionate about the opposite decision) can be a tricky one. I very very often cross it in both directions.

One the one hand, I never want to hurt anyone's feelings or make anyone feel judged. On the other, how can I strip all conversations/blogs/ect from any
controversial subject? My parenting, my faith, my politics would all be sadly sadly diluted. I would be half a person.

I am so thankful that I know people, like you, that can just choose not to read it and understand that its not personally meant.