A recent hospital snafu chalks up two more reasons to promote homebirth and avoid routine infant circumcision.
In Marion, IL, two newborn boys were switched at birth. One was sent home with the wrong family, who received a call later that day to come turn in the errant child and claim their own son.
You would think that in this day and age of technological gadgets that go "ping" and the supposedly fool-proof safety measures in hospitals that this would be an impossibility.
However, the evidence shows otherwise.
The incident occurred after both boys were sent for circumcision. Their identification was removed for the surgery and then mistakenly replaced on the wrong child.
These errors make a strong case for homebirth: neither procedure, the mix up nor the circumcision, would have occurred were the children born at home.
Eventually the US will catch up and realize that homebirth is safe and routine circumcision is harmful, not the reverse.
The full article is available here.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Two More Reasons to Avoid Hospitals and Circumcision
Posted by Catherine at 9:55 PM 0 comments
Labels: advocacy, homebirth, maternity care
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