Doctors Aren’t Cultural Actors

I may have more to say on this story about circumcision as “the ultimate parenting dilemma. Understood, it isn’t a dilemma. But we have to deal with reality, not the world we should have. For now, this:

“You are doing a procedure on someone who cannot make a decision for himself – it’s a difficult choice for both parents and physicians,” says Dr Marvin Wang, co-director of the Newborn Nurseries at Massachusetts General Hospital, who has conducted hundreds of circumcisions.

It is, he says, more a “cultural decision” than a medical one, and therefore, for parents to decide, while he advises on the pros and cons.

Wang says most parents come in with fervent beliefs – and what a doctor says makes little difference.

“The bottom line is… they stick to their guns. They choose the pieces of information that bolster their argument and run with that.”

What a doctor says makes little difference. Having conversed with people who support circumcision for irrational reasons, I am not surprised. However, what a doctor does can make all the difference. Or, rather, what a doctor does not do. There is no obligation to participate in non-therapeutic circumcisions on minors. There is an ethical duty to not participate. If doctors refused to perform the surgeries, the numbers would decline. Not to zero, but it would signal a critical truth to parents who intend to make their son’s choice.