NY Health Board Votes Unanimously to Make It Mandatory for Rabbis to Seek Parental Permission for Circumcision

New York City Board of Health has unanimously voted in favor of a new regulation that makes it mandatory for the rabbis get consent from parents of circumcised boys.

Despite threats from Jewish rabbis that they will be boycotting any such rules, the New York City Board of Health announced that it has unanimously voted in favor of a new regulation that makes it mandatory for the rabbis get consent from parents of circumcised boys when the process will involve direct oral suction.

According to the Health Department, the practice of cleaning the wound after circumcision by sucking the blood and spitting it away, also known as metzitzah b'peh, increases the risk of herpes simplex type 1 in the children with 11 cases being confirmed so far.

Bedwetting
Bedwetting (nocturnal enuresis) is involuntary voiding of urine during sleep at least three times a week in a child aged 5 years or older.

However the claim is being contested by rabbis who said that they will not be asking for any consent forms from parents for a tradition that has been in place for more than 3,000 years.

“We're not going to sign papers admitting that we are child murderers. We follow the tradition going back 3,000 years. Any surgeon in a hospital would be proud to have a record like us”, Brooklyn’s Rabbi William Handler said.

Source-Medindia

About Phimosis
The term 'Phimosis' derived from the Greek word for 'muzzling' has been widely applied to narrow foreskin.

Paediatric Plastic Surgery-Cleft Lip-Craniofacial-Pigmented Lesion-Anomalies
A deforming birth defect has a devastating psychological impact upon the child's parents, and has the potential for life-long impact upon the physical, psychological and socio-economic well-being of the child.