Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics

On October 2, 1981, I sat down to watch "NBC Magazine" on television, with a segment about infant circumcision called "The Casual Cut," by Douglas Kiker. (To watch, see youtube.com/watch?v=vm6Y0HJo034) I listened to doctors say there were no valid medical reasons for performing circumcisions on baby boys. One doctor said that circumcisions were done mainly for parental preference. In horror, I saw a newborn baby boy being circumcised without anesthesia. Edward Wallerstein, author of the book "CIRCUMCISION: An American Health Fallacy," told how circumcision is not practiced in most other countries. He called it a "cop out" that American doctors do not stop performing infant circumcisions, but instead take a neutral position by saying they'll let the parents decide.

I was stunned. Why had most parents never heard this before? I did not know this when my first daughter was born in 1972, a year after the American Academy of Pediatrics wrote that "there are no valid medical indications for circumcision in the neonatal period." Before my second daughter was born in 1977, I was asked during my hospital admission if I wanted my baby circumcised if I had a boy. No doctor had ever mentioned the word circumcision, but now a woman in admissions was soliciting me for this surgery, despite "No Solicitation" signs posted on their doors. When I thought back to being questioned this way, I got angry. I did not understand why doctors would do such a ghastly thing to baby boys, something no national medical association in the world recommends. I know now that the driving force in medicine is money.

I read Wallerstein's book to educate myself, and spoke with my friend who was a La Leche League leader. Together we signed a letter to the editor that I wrote and mailed to local newspapers, telling people the facts about circumcision. I was reluctant to put my name alone on this letter, since people in the United States do not talk openly about circumcision. For me, this was the first step in a long journey.

I learned of a childbirth group fighting against infant circumcision and contacted them. I arranged for a speaker to come speak about circumcision to two local childbirth classes. I learned that genital cutting is practiced not only on baby boys in the United States, but also on females in Africa and the Middle East. I inwardly wept as I read about the inhumane things done to girls there. I thought of my own daughters. No child, male or female, should ever be subjected to genital mutilation.

In 1982, my third daughter was born. When I questioned my doctor during my prenatal care, he told me that circumcisions were medically unnecessary, that he had seen infants die from them in medical school, but he circumcises babies anyway if parents want that done. He called himself "the reluctant rabbi." I told my doctor to write "No Circumcision" on my chart if I had a boy. While he delivered my daughter by Cesarean section, one of the first things he said to me was, "Now you don't have to worry about circumcision." His words sounded like he was dismissing my feelings. Since I don't support doctors who harm children, I later wrote him a letter telling him why he was losing me as a patient. I believe in "First, Do No Harm," even though some doctors don't.

While recuperating from surgery, I went for a walk in the hospital hallway. Suddenly I heard the [End Page 81] gut wrenching screams of a baby, coming from behind the closed curtains of the nursery. I overheard others say this baby boy was being circumcised, and I saw the baby's father standing in the hall joking about it. I could not bear to hear what this poor baby was being forced to endure.

I rushed back to my room, closed the door, stuck my fingers in my ears, and tried to block out his pitiful cries. I couldn't. The baby's screams were so loud and so desperate that they reached to the far end of the...