Some babies die of complications of circumcision.1 There has been a need to assemble in one convenient location information concerning death from complications of circumcision. This page is designed to fill that need.
Deaths occur secondary to loss of blood or systemic infection from the circumcision wound.
A few deaths are reported in the medical literature. Other medical literature discusses the frequency of those deaths. A few deaths are reported in the popular press.
There is reason to believe that many deaths from circumcision are attributed to other causes. For example, if a baby were to die of meningitis that was contracted through the circumcision wound, the death may be attributed to meningitis while ignoring the fact that the baby would not have had meningitis if he had not been circumcised.
Circumcision originated before the dawn of history. There was no knowledge of sanitation or the need for a sterile operating environment. Jews have traditionally performed circumcision on the eighth day after birth for many thousands of years. The medical literature was still reporting numerous deaths from ritual circumcision in the early twentieth century.2, 3 There must have been vast numbers of babies who died under those conditions through the centuries. Jewish law allows parents who have had three sons die from circumcision to leave the fourth son intact.5
Doctors are highly motivated to conceal the true cause of circumcision death. Neonatal circumcision has no medical indication and is now considered to be an unnecessary6 non-therapeutic7 operation. It is unethical to carry out such operations on minors who cannot consent for themselves.8 Consequently, most doctors who have a baby die after a circumcision would prefer to attribute the results of his unethical operation to secondary causes, such as infection or bleeding, while ignoring the primary cause, which is the circumcision that resulted in the infection or bleeding. It is, therefore, very hard to identify the total number of deaths that occur from circumcision. One senses that one is seeing only the "tip of the iceberg," with the vast majority of deaths from circumcision being concealed. The deaths undoubtedly cause an increase in infant mortality. Male infant mortality is higher than female infant mortality. It is not known how much of this increased mortality is due to the practice of male circumcision.
Several doctors have given estimates of the number of deaths that occur each year. Douglas Gairdner reported 16-19 actual deaths a year in England and Wales from neonatal circumcisions in the 1940s.9 Sydney Gellis believed that "there are more deaths from complications of circumcision than from cancer of the penis.10 There are various figures for the number of deaths from penile cancer ranging from 200 to 480 deaths per year. Robert Baker estimated 229 deaths per year from circumcision in the United States.11
There are several case reports of death in the medical literature. These are deaths from various infections.2,3,4,12-14
There are several newspaper accounts of boys who have died after circumcision. These are from bleeding and from complications of anesthesia.15-24
The coroner's report on the death of a previously healthy one-month-old infant, Ryleigh Roman Bryan McWillis, less that 48 hours after his circumcision, is available. Baby Ryleigh died of hypovolemic shock, after exsanguination caused by hemorrhage at the circumcision wound.35 36 Ryleigh's mother said, "I unplugged his life support at 5 a.m. on the 22nd of August, one month and one day after he was born."37
Many African tribes have initation ceremonies in which a youth or young man is initiated into manhood. The youths are sent to a camp in a remote area where initiation ceremonies, including circumcision, take place. The circumcisions are carried out by persons without medical training. African tribal ritual circumcision produces reports of death or serious injury every year.25-34 The Mail and Guardian reports seven dead in the Fall of 2003 and a total of 250 dead since 1995.34
Some victims of circumcision are known by name. They are:
Circumcision under attack WebPosted Feb 11 2004 07:32 PM PST
PENTICTON, B.C. - The report on the death of an infant following a
routine circumcision has triggered renewed calls to ban the procedure in B.C.
Ryleigh Roman McWillis was a month old when he bled to death following the operation in Penticton in August, 2002.
A coroner's report released this week makes no recommendations for change, which dismays his parents.
Brent McWillis had hoped the coroner's report into the death of his son Ryleigh would help prevent a similar tragedy in future.
"It was a very unfortunate and nightmarish thing that happened to us," he says. "The only thing I want to see is that it doesn't happen to anyone else's child."
Ryleigh's parents say they'd like all hospitals to adopt better standards to care for infants following a circumcision.
Meanwhile, other groups opposed to circumcision, are calling for an internal review by the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons.
"This surgery is not necessary, and if the surgery is not therapeutic, the risk cannot be undertaken," says John Geisheker, the lawyer for the group, Doctors Against Circumcision. (Read their letter regarding the Coroner's findings HERE).
Dr. Eugene Outerbridge of the Canadian Pediatric Society says a study last year, showed male circumcision exposes children to risk, with no real medical benefit.
But Outerbridge says an outright ban would violate the rights of religious minorities.