NEW YORK: Father sues over botched circumcision

DNAinfo.com (New York)
March 5, 2013

Queens Infant Disfigured in Botched Bris, Lawsuit Charges

by James Fanelli

FOREST HILLS — A Queens rabbi botched the bris of an 8-day-old boy, then told the dad that he did an acceptable job, even though the infant needed corrective surgery, a new lawsuit charges.

Gavriel Barukh, the father of the boy, is suing Rabbi Mordechai Rachminov, claiming he sliced off part of his son's corona glandis during the religious ceremony on Oct. 16, 2011, at the Bukharian Jewish Community Center in Forest Hills, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Queens Civil Supreme Court.

After the ritual, Rachminov, 69, misled Barukh by claiming the circumcision was "performed appropriately and that his conduct was within the standard of care and skill required of Jewish mohelim and circumcisers," the lawsuit says.

He also allegedly told Barukh that a physician wasn't necessary. Even after it became apparent that the bris went awry, Rachminov and the community center failed to call a doctor, the suit says.

Barukh claims that the delay in medical treatment resulted in greater permanent damage to his son. The boy had to undergo corrective surgery with general anesthesia and may need even more procedures, the lawsuit says.

A woman who answered the phone at Rachminov's home said the allegations weren't true.

"I didn't hear any of this," she said.

The Bukharian Jewish Community Center was also named in the lawsuit. A woman who answered the phone at the center said Rachminov no longer works there. She declined to comment about the lawsuit.

Barukh's lawyer did not return a call for comment.

The practice of performing a bris became a hotly debated topic in September after an infant died from contracting herpes ...

MASSACHUSETTS: Parents win $700,000 for their emotional distress at botched circumcision

Mass. Lawyers Weekly
June 21, 2012

Infant sustains partial amputation during bris

Parents say they suffered severe emotional distress; $700,000 settlement
[So how much will the baby - and the man - get for his emotional distress?]
 
An 8-day-old baby suffered an amputation of a portion of the ventral glans of his penis at a Jewish brit milah circumcision ceremony, or bris, at a private residence. The plaintiffs maintained that the doctor/mohel was negligent in his performance of the procedure.

LONDON: Baby Geldof will stay intact

Contact Music
April 26, 2012

Peaches Geldof Won't Have Son Circumcised

Peaches Geldof will not have her newborn son circumcised, despite having converted to Judaism last year for fiancé Thomas Cohen.

Peaches Geldof will not have her newborn son circumcised.

The 23-year-old daughter of Bob Geldof - who gave birth to Astala Dylan Willow on Saturday (21.04.12) - converted to Judaism for fiancé Thomas Cohen last year, although both have decided against having the little one undergo the traditional procedure.

Thomas, who fronts band S.C.U.M, said: ''Even though we're both Jewish, our baby won't have a Jewish circumcision.''

[And even though S.C.U.M stands for Society for Cutting Up Men! Thomas is on record as saying "My mum didn’t want me to be circumcised either" (Daily Mail, January 29, 2012) - but not whether she prevailed.]

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL: Mohel tweets about small penis, brit b'li periah

Life in Israel
April 18, 2012

Mohel Tweets Himself Into Trouble With Controversial Tweets

By Rafi G.

In a very strange incident, Rav Avi Zarki, a popular mohel in Tel Aviv, tweeted two tweets on his twitter account that have him in hot water.

1. According to my professional opinion, today we can do the circumcision according to halacha without doing the traditional "preeya". [Then why not without the traditional milah?] tweet
2. Today I did a circumcision on a child with the smallest penis I have ever seen - a micro penis. You should undertand, it was slightly thicker than a matchstick. [One hates to think what damage will come to light when its owner grows up.] At 1st I thought it was a girl. Zeh HaKotton Gadol Yiheyeh (play on words saying this small one should become big). tweet

Kikar [in Hebrew] spoke to Rav Zarki to get a response, after his tweets caused a stir. Zarki defended his tweets basically by saying he is in an unusual position and has silent rabbinic support for his style. His position is unusual because he works a lot with the non-religious community and needs to do brash things in order to keep circumcision a topic of conversation. He says he has rabbinic support for his approach, but the rabbonim dont always want their names mentioned publicly, though he reminds us that he was one of the leading students of Rav Wolbe zt"l..

Regarding his comment that preeya is no longer necessary, he did not offer much of an explanation. He did say that it is the Solonika method that performs the circumcision together with the preeya, while he has letters from many rabbonim (including Rav Ovadiah Yosef he says) supporting his alternate method.

The comment about the baby, while he had a cute line with his "zeh hakotton gadol yiheyeh", was tasteless and inappropriate for him to make. if the parents had seen what he tweeted, I am sure they would not have been happy. The comment about preeya demands more of an explanation than trust me that anonymous rabbis support me.

ISRAEL: Baby loses 1/3 of penis in worse-than-usual circumcision

Algemeiner
April 18, 2012

Mohel Cuts Off A Third of Baby's Penis During Circumcision

A circumcision in Northern Israel went horribly wrong recently, when the mohel responsible for the procedure accidentally cut off a third of the infant’s penis [instead of just a third of the skin] , Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

The infant was rushed to a hospital in Haifa, Israel where an emergency operation was performed because his life was in danger. The circumcision procedure, traditionally done 8 days after birth, may have caused permanent damage to the child [May have? Nay, it did: it always does] , although senior urologists at the hospital said it will be a number of days until anything can be determined.

The baby’s parents have gone to the Israeli Ministry of Health to report the incident.