When circ's go bad...

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Has anyone seen a circ go really bad? I saw one today where the doc took too much foreskin off and the skin on the shaft ended up "degloving" from the fascia underneath. A urologist had to come in and do "damage control." The people I've talked with say they've never seen anything like this happen before.

Can we actually refuse to participate in circumcisions? I hope this wasn't covered in the discussion. I will read further!!! Is your refusal based on ethical reasoning? How does your employer feel about it?

When I worked OB in Canada, less than half the babies were circed and I just refused to participate. My coworkers would take those assignments and I would take theirs. It was an informal "I'll help you out" kind of arrangement since I would also help them out with certain patients they didn't love to deal with too. At my last hospital, the NICU nurses didn't do circumcisions anyways so it wasn't an issue for me unless I floated to PP and it only came up a few times there. I just said it went against my beliefs and negotiated another assignment. When I interviewed at my current hospital I asked about it and was told the NICU nurses here do them. I said I would prefer not to participate in them and my manager had no problem with it. I was honest about it from the start and made it clear that I would take any other assignment to avoid participating. Since I work in a big unit, it isn't a problem. There is always someone willing to do it. It's just not me:)

My refusal is based on the fact that I don't believe there is any reason to subject an infant to cosmetic surgery which carries real medical risks. I think that's immoral. My job is to care for babies health, not subject them to unnecessary surgery. I only had to see one baby almost bleed to death to decide that. In my opinion, this is no different from nurses who will not participate in abortions or hanging blood. My employers have always been willing to support me in living within my own morals since it's such a small thing for them to do and I am a good employee. If you don't want to participate in circs and work as a nurse, my only advice to you is to be very upfront and honest about it with your employer from the beginning and be sure to volunteer to help your coworkers with other patients they may not love. For instance, in OB I would often take fetal demises or second trimester terminations for fetal anomalies since I knew some of my coworkers have moral qualms about them and in the NICU I am willing to look after infants on whom we are withdrawing life support if another nurse doesn't want to. It's about give and take.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Yes you can refuse to participate in procedures that go against your beliefs or moral code. Just as people can refuse to participate in abortion, they may also refuse to aid in a circumcision, asking another nurse without such reservations to act in her stead.

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I think I would of choked my MOM and DAd if i was not circed as a newborn. Your teenage years are already hard as it is! Dont add that into the mix!!!

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I think I would of choked my MOM and DAd if i was not circed as a newborn. Your teenage years are already hard as it is! Dont add that into the mix!!!

Non of the men in my life have ever complained about having foreskin or said it traumatized them as teens.

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I wonder if this is sort of like hysterectomies for women (I sort of wonder if they are done a lot more than necessary by some docs).

Yup, I wonder too, along with c-secs, episiotomies, etc etc etc

I am not a nurse, but about to start my pre-reqs. I can tell you that hysterectomies are definatly done unnecessarily. I had a doctor try to give me one when i was 23, and told me i could never have children. I now have two wonderfull little boys. 5 and 2, which btw are both circ'd. Dads decision of course.

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I also have seen circs bleed so bad that sutures had to be placed by docs... I don['t loke assisting with circs at all!!!

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I think I would of choked my MOM and DAd if i was not circed as a newborn. Your teenage years are already hard as it is! Dont add that into the mix!!!

Why???

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Why???

teenagers want to look like everyone else, and the locker room syndrome is going to come into play if you live in an area where most are circumsized. ( I have no real opinion on this yet, though if i had a boy at this point i would probably be for it. )

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teenagers want to look like everyone else, and the locker room syndrome is going to come into play if you live in an area where most are circumsized. ( I have no real opinion on this yet, though if i had a boy at this point i would probably be for it. )

I don't believe what I am hearing. Surgery imposed on another without consent for the goal of looking like others in the locker room? Any boy being born today will see both circumcised and uncircumcised memberes in a locker room given the fact that the current rates of circumcision of newborn males in the USA are 60% cut - 40% uncut and these percentages are reverse in CA where leaving the member intact is the norm (60%).

I just still can't get over this mindset that this should be the choice of the parents. In the absence of any medical reasons, forced, painful, cosmetic surgery on unconsenting patients is unethical. We have been socialized to be blinded to this fact when it comes to routine infant male circumcisions.

I would suggest anyone on this list to look up their state's statutes on child abuse and see how easy it is to argue that infant cirumcision could be classified as abuse. Don't believe me, what would the law say if a parent, MD, or RN was found cutting off a baby's earlobe or removing his finger nails? They would be charged with child abuse.

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I don't believe what I am hearing. Surgery imposed on another without consent for the goal of looking like others in the locker room? Any boy being born today will see both circumcised and uncircumcised memberes in a locker room given the fact that the current rates of circumcision of newborn males in the USA are 60% cut - 40% uncut and these percentages are reverse in CA where leaving the member intact is the norm (60%).

I just still can't get over this mindset that this should be the choice of the parents. In the absence of any medical reasons, forced, painful, cosmetic surgery on unconsenting patients is unethical. We have been socialized to be blinded to this fact when it comes to routine infant male circumcisions.

I would suggest anyone on this list to look up their state's statutes on child abuse and see how easy it is to argue that infant cirumcision could be classified as abuse. Don't believe me, what would the law say if a parent, MD, or RN was found cutting off a baby's earlobe or removing his finger nails? They would be charged with child abuse.

I am madly in love with this entire post! Very well said and I totally agree.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

If it's true teens want to look "like everyone else in the locker room" then it's on US to teach them differently. If they are so preoccupied w/others boys' anatomy, then maybe there is a problem with their self-esteem. I can't remember spending a hell of a lot of time "comparing notes" when I was in high school OR basic military training (lots of experience w/open bay showers when I was young). I was more busy cleaning up, myself, than looking others' assets and making critical assessments of my own. SHeesh, time to grow up. And fergus is right, EVERYONE is NOT circumcised, even in the USA.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I don't believe what I am hearing. Surgery imposed on another without consent for the goal of looking like others in the locker room? Any boy being born today will see both circumcised and uncircumcised memberes in a locker room given the fact that the current rates of circumcision of newborn males in the USA are 60% cut - 40% uncut and these percentages are reverse in CA where leaving the member intact is the norm (60%).

I just still can't get over this mindset that this should be the choice of the parents. In the absence of any medical reasons, forced, painful, cosmetic surgery on unconsenting patients is unethical. We have been socialized to be blinded to this fact when it comes to routine infant male circumcisions.

I would suggest anyone on this list to look up their state's statutes on child abuse and see how easy it is to argue that infant cirumcision could be classified as abuse. Don't believe me, what would the law say if a parent, MD, or RN was found cutting off a baby's earlobe or removing his finger nails? They would be charged with child abuse.

so true, and I fell under this mindset and allowed my son to be circ'd without truly educating myself first. Done over again, I would more likely refuse it now. ( I was not a nurse then either).
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