A Canadian mom has filed a lawsuit alleging negligence after the tip of her 9-day-old son’s penis was chopped off during a circumcision — and she has kept the severed part in her freezer, according to a report.
The woman, whom the Canadian Press is not naming to protect the child’s identity, said she and her husband took their newborn to the Victoria East Medical Clinic in Regina to undergo the procedure in November.
The mother, who is of African descent, said circumcision is part of her family’s culture.
She has filed a notice of claim against the doctor, his business and an unidentified intern she believes performed the procedure.
“It was already taking too long,” said the woman, who recalled how quick the procedure had been for her older son eight years earlier. “I could hear the baby crying so much.”
She said Dr. Owen Miller, the doctor she and her husband believed was going to perform the circumcision, was apologetic when he came into the waiting area.
“He came out and he said, ‘There’s a problem. We have to call the ambulance,'” the mother told the outlet, adding that she broke down in tears.
“Someone just told me he was performing some practice on my baby, that’s what it sounded like,” she said. “I couldn’t even talk.”
The lawsuit says, “After the botched surgery, Miller informed the plaintiff (mother) that his intern performed the surgery.”
Kolade Oladokun, the attorney representing the mother, said any damages awarded in the lawsuit could help pay for future cosmetic surgery for her son.
The father said the family doesn’t care about any money.
“We just want to know if our son’s going to be OK,” he insisted.
The mother said her son bled for hours and cried in pain while he was in the emergency room — and that a surgeon informed them the baby was too young to have the severed tip reattached.
Miller declined to comment to the Canadian Press, but in a statement of defense filed in court, he denied being negligent.
“At the close of the procedure, it was noted that a small piece of the glans of the infant’s penis (tip) had been removed with the foreskin,” according to his statement.
“Immediate steps were undertaken to treat the wound and arrangements made to transfer the infant to specialists at Regina General Hospital for further treatment,” it added.
The doctor has no previous disciplinary history listed on the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons website.
Last year, a doctor in Regina was fined over $10,000 for not dealing appropriately with complications arising from a 2014 circumcision.
Dr. Todd Sorokan, a pediatrician based in British Columbia, told the news outlet that circumcision is a straightforward procedure in which minor bleeding can occur — but that’s estimated to happen in only one to two cases out of 100.
“It’s certainly not a good result to trim part of the glans penis (tip) along with the foreskin,” he said. “I’m happy to hear that the family went and got urgent attention.”
The boy’s penis is mostly functional, but is disfigured, his mother said.
“It’s healed up, but it doesn’t look normal,” she said, adding that she has kept the severed part of the penis stored in her freezer in case he has questions about his body one day.
“I just hope this doesn’t get to that point where the boy is feeling less of himself,” she said. “We don’t know.”