June 29, 2012
Berlin hospital suspends circumcisions after court ruling
Berlin's Jewish Hospital will suspend circumcisions after a German court ruled this week that performing the procedure on religious grounds is unlawful, a hospital spokesman said Friday."We are suspending circumcisions until the legal position is clear," Gerhard Nerlich told AFP, citing head of internal medicine Kirstof Graf.
The hospital performs 300 circumcisions a year, a third of which are for religious reasons and the remainder due to medical concerns.
"We regularly performed circumcisions before this ruling but we don't have the legal freedom to do so any more," said Nerlich, adding that two procedures had already been cancelled.
Earlier on Friday German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle weighed in the debate, saying the country protected religious freedom and traditions.
"The ruling on circumcision has provoked annoyance internationally," Westerwelle wrote on his official Twitter account.
"We have to be clear: religious traditions are protected in Germany," he added.
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Westerwelle was also quoted in the Bild's online edition on Thursday saying that Germany "is an open and tolerant country where religious freedom is well established and where religious traditions like circumcision as an expression of religious diversity are protected." [Cutting infant male genitals may be "an expression of religious diversity" but it also expresses many other things, none defensible.]
Earlier story
We regularly performed circumcisions before this ruling but we don't have the legal freedom to do so any more
ReplyDeleteWhat a bunch of jokers! They are trying to change the debate—is it any wonder that a "Jewish" hospital is the one making the noise?
This is an attempt to fool the general public into thinking the ruling is broader than it actually is; these jokers are trying to make people feel that the government has overstepped its limits to the detriment of a field as important as medicine, such that the poor doctors can no longer adequately administer their "healing" arts.
What hogwash!
This hospital performs 300 circumcisions per year, of which only 100 would be affected by the ruling—namely, the 100 that are NOT in any way medical in nature. The other 200 [supposedly] medically necessary circumcisions are unhindered.
Right, all the rest of the other hospitals understand EXACTLY what's going on...
ReplyDelete...except for THIS one, the Jewish one which is more likely to do circumcisions...
Really?
I hope the public has the good sense to see through this Kabuki Theatre...
Hmm sounds like medical malpractice to me - holding people hostage for political gain. This isn't going to make friends, but it may very well influence people.
ReplyDelete