Baby Circumcisions In US hospitals On Three-Decade Decline

[Purveyor]

Eric M. Johnson, Reuters

The rate of circumcisions performed on newborn boys in U.S. hospitals dropped 6 percentage points over the past three decades, with an especially steep decline in Western states, according to U.S. government data released Thursday.

The national rate declined to 58.3 percent in 2010 from 64.5 percent in 1979, according to the report from the National Center for Health Statistics. The tally excludes many circumcisions, including those performed in other places such as religious institutions and those performed later in life.

Broadly, rates fell during the 1980s, increased in the 1990s, and fell again in the early 2000s. During the period covered by the data, male newborn circumcision was most common in 1981, at 64.9 percent, and least common in 2007, at 55.4 percent.

Circumcision is a ritual obligation for infant Jewish boys and is also a common rite among Muslims, who account for the largest share of circumcised men worldwide.

MORE...

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/baby-circumcisions-us-hospitals-three-decade-decline-6C10974723

[burnodo]

1. What about the rate among girls?

since the author thought he needed to specify which sex had seen the decline

[mr_hat]

2. You really think there's a measurable trend

in female genital mutilation in U.S. hospitals? Really?

[burnodo]

3. You should read a post before replying to it

[ZombieHorde]

4. Good news for babies! nt

[etherealtruth]

5. Exactlyn/t

[Soylent Brice]

8. ikr

[Bay Boy]

6. It's weird...

...I knew that circumcision was unnecessary 30 years ago but I still had my boys snipped.
I still don't know why I did it other than the old chestnut 'to be like dad'.

[leftstreet]

7. Fewer insurers and/or Medicaid cover the procedure

There is a range of potential reasons behind the decline, including mixed messaging on the health benefits. Several insurance companies have also stopped covering circumcision. In Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington, Medicaid does not cover the procedure. The report also looked only at hospital circumcision rates, and some newborns may be getting the procedure elsewhere.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57599705/circumcision-rates-declining-especially-in-western-states/

Controversy aside, as always....follow the money

[Warren Stupidity]

9. Oivegardenbreastfeedingsmoking!

[liberal_at_heart]

10. I don't know. I have a hard time getting my son to bathe so I am kind of glad we had him

circumcised.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. Link to an account of the real experience from a nurse.

Warning: Graphic Description of Bloodletting

http://muppetsmom.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html

A Nursing Student is Introduced to Circumcision:
Excerpt:
The nurse then layed the now naked infant down on a hard plastic body board and strapped down his arms and legs. The baby was crying very hard now, trying to fight having his arms and legs strapped down in such a straight unnatural position for a newborn.

The doctor then walked in, and was very friendly when the nurse introduced me and informed him that I was a nursing student who was joining them that morning to observe. While the doctor was talking to me, he seemed impervious to the now screaming infant. I wasn't even really hearing the doctor at that point, all I kept thinking was, 'Someone please unstrap that poor little guy, and pick him up and comfort him already.' The doctor saw my obvious distress and smiled and said, "Oh, don't worry about him, he just doesn't like being on the board, he's in no real distress." 'No real distress'? Really? This tiny little newborn was screaming and no one was responding to his cries. He was literally being ignored. I was not impressed so far.

The doctor then draped the infant in surgical drapes which covered his abdomen and legs but exposed his penis. The doctor using a swab, rubbed a solution on the infants' penis explaining what the solution was, and that it works to cause an erection on the infant so that he can grasp his penis easier. The doctor then grabbed the infants now erect penis with forceps and proceeded to force a sharp instrument into the opening of the penis. The infant was of course screaming the most horrid cry I have ever heard come from an infant. The nurse was proceeding to give him sugar water, which she claimed "helped soothe the baby". This little guy seemed as though he could care less and was choking and gagging on the liquid. He just kept screaming. At times his scream didn't even come out, he was screaming so hard. I felt weak in the knees and had to fight very hard to hold back the tears forming in my eyes.

The doctor had forced the sharp scissor-like instrument into the opening of the baby's penis and was now forcing it open to tear away the foreskin from the glans of the penis. He then grasped the skin with another type of forcep and proceeded to cut at the foreskin. The doctor was talking away and explaining each step, I wasn't even listening. I could not believe the unbelievable distress this baby was in, and no one seemed to care really. I then asked the doctor if he had used any freezing or anything. He simply replied, "No, it's too risky to use on little guys like this." WHAT? So, basically this doctor was hacking skin off of this poor little infants' most sensitive organ, and the infant was experiencing every cut? I remember feeling so disgusted and said to the doctor, "This is barbaric." The doctor said, "Well, that's your opinion, but some parents prefer their boys be cut." All I could think of was, 'Why? Who really cares?'

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