Another Jewish newborn — the second in three months — has contracted neonatal herpes due to a controversial oral suctioning technique employed during ritual circumcision, New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has reported. The parents of the child did not sign a recently mandated city consent form authorizing the mohel who conducted…
A New York City infant was recently infected with herpes after undergoing a controversial circumcision rite, but survived, health officials said. The baby contracted herpes simplex virus type 1 after undergoing the rite known as metzitzah b’peh. This is the second confirmed case this year by the New York City Department of Health and Mental…
Are some New York City hospitals and the city’s Department of Health suppressing disclosure of cases in which a dangerous herpes virus is being transmitted by mohels to newborns? Representatives from New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center refused to respond to this allegation — made specifically about their own hospital — by a senior…
Thirty-eight physicians from Europe have written a paper alleging that “cultural bias” was behind the pro-circumcision stance of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The commentary, published on March 18 on the website of the U.S.-based Pediatrics journal, disputes a report which the American academy on children’s health published in August, which states that “benefits of…
Proponents of metzitzah b’peh, the controversial circumcision ritual, were denied a request for an emergency stay in the enforcement of a recent New York City law that regulates the procedure. The decision was handed down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The motion, filed by the Central Rabbinical Congress of…
A German prosecutor has dropped all charges against a rabbi for his role as a circumciser. A statement by the Hof prosecutor on Feb. 21 said that Rabbi David Goldberg of Hof satisfied all requirements regarding child welfare “which are not jeopardized by the circumcision,” the Jewish German publication Jüdische Allgemeine reported. “Circumcisions which are…
A new medical study in Belgium suggests circumcised men experience less intense sexual pleasure and orgasm than uncircumcised counterparts. The study by Dr. Piet Hoebeke from Ghent University Hospital surveyed 1,369 men over the age of 18, who responded to leaflets handed out in train stations across Belgium, the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Neieuws reported…
In this week’s Reporters Roundtable podcast, host Josh Nathan-Kazis is joined by Forward Fellow Seth Berkman to discuss why Orthodox mohels are refusing to present consent forms to parents before performing metzitzah b’peh — the controversial practice of suctioning blood following circumcision. Then, assistant managing editor Larry Cohler-Esses talks with Josh about the federal program…
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