Advanced Urology Associates in Chicago, Illinois is a practicing group of nine specialists. The web page defining their practice includes the promise that they work as a team for all patients, and touts noble ideas such as, “[W]e believe the best doctor-patient relationship is one of mutual respect whereby the doctor provides information for the patient to consider.”
That could be true until you consider what they are doing to defenseless children in their practice.
As a part of a sweeping range of urological problems they treat, the “circumcision” of infant boys is one of them. It may be prudent for parents considering not putting their infant in Dr. Lewis’s hands, or any of his other team members.
The web page where they sell the practice of cutting away viable, natural tissue from the genitals of infants with no medical necessity is in direct conflict with any idea of a doctor-patient relationship based on “mutual respect whereby the doctor provides information for the patient to consider.”
They are, in the opinion of many doctors opposed to the practice, actually selling cosmetic surgery to misinformed parents while totally ignoring the bodily autonomy of the victim.
Dr. Lewis and his peers sell this to parents by informing them of the possible benefits to circumcision, careful to use language that concedes that most of the purported benefits are unproven, and that benefits known, such as the decreased incidence of urinary tract infections, are conditions easily remedied with antibiotics.
What they do not do is offer one source of information about the very real possible consequences of what they do to their patients.
They do not tell parents that circumcision can lead to death and genital disfigurement; that botched cases have a profoundly destructive impact on the victims. Nor do they inform parents of the massive reduction in erogenous sensitivity that results from the procedure.
More importantly, you will see nothing about the possible, lifelong medical and psychological consequences of what they do to infants who cannot possibly make an informed decision.
Dr. Lewis is just one physician in that practice. He was named in the headline because his was the first name on the drop down menu of their practitioners on the circumcision page. The others are, Gregory J. Andros, M.D., Sandeep Sawhney, M.D., F.C.R.S, Thomas E. Burns, M.D., Thai T. Nguyen, M.D., Ryan G. Manecke, M.D., Constance Marks, M.D., Luke Cho, M.D., Neelima Kabre, M.D., and Elizabeth Bean, P.A. –C.
The purpose of this article is to hopefully reach parents who are considering placing their children in the care of this or any other medical practice performing what many concerned people and medical professionals define as genital mutilation.
It is important for parents to know the impact of pain caused by this procedure has on the barely developing brains of their infant sons, and the impact of the loss of sensitivity that ultimately results in sexual dysfunction in many men.
Parents should be aware of the increased risk of choking and difficulty breathing, the increased pulse (1.5 times the baseline rate), the tripling and quadrupling of cortisol levels (a steroid hormone released in response to stress).
Parents should be aware that circumcision is “among the most painful procedures performed in neonatal medicine,” and that even in the rare cases that anesthesia is used, the postoperative pain far outlasts any pain management efforts that doctors provide.
Parents should be aware that “Behavioral changes in infants resulting from circumcision are very common, and can interfere with parent-infant bonding and feeding.”
That is actually a small part of it. What is known about circumcision now is enough that it should literally frighten any concerned parent out of having the procedure done. Any concerned parent can read about this here.
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It is time for parents who are deciding on the basis of religion, custom or aesthetic appeal to be more informed about what circumcision actually is; what the real and often universal dangers are.
They are not going to hear this from medical groups that profit from doing them like Advanced Urology Associates in Chicago.
The basics in this article will be used many times ahead in the future, in an attempt to reach parents in every corner of the world where this barbaric practice is still common among medical professionals more concerned with profits than the well-being of their customers.
With this article, A Voice for Men now launches a long term project to expose elements of the medical establishment who are ignoring current data about circumcision and failing to help their patients make informed decisions about risks and benefits.
The practice of removing viable genital tissue containing 20,000 nerve endings on average, of performing cosmetic surgery without consent of the patient, and the people who do it, are going to be called out.
