I recently circumcised the newborn son of a patient, at her request. I had a chat with her about how the popularity of male newborn circumcisions has changed over the years.
When I started my training to become an obstetrician doctor, male newborn circumcision was very popular. I did a lot of male newborn circumcision procedures. Most private obstetricians performed male newborn circumcision procedures.
While there were religious reasons, such as for Jews and Moslems (there were very few Moslems in Australia back then), male newborn circumcision was considered medically important. There were various medical reasons why male newborn circumcision should be done, but the only one which was considered to have credibility was that sexual intercourse with men who were circumcised was associated with a lower incidence of cervical cancer. That conclusion was based on Jewish population studies, which showed a lower incidence of cervical cancer in Jewesses, and this was attributed to male circumcision of their Jewish husbands. But as it became more popular for Jewish women to have multiple sexual partners the incidence of cervical cancer amongst Jewesses increased. This reason for routine male newborn circumcision was not valid.
I moved to the United Kingdom to complete my obstetrician training. In the UK the incidence of male newborn circumcision was very low. I did not do any male newborn circumcisions, except for the newborn sons of Americans living in the UK.
Coming back to Australia I became aware the incidence of male newborn circumcision had declined, and the percentage of obstetricians doing male newborn circumcision procedures had also declined. This trend has continued.
It is now considered there is no medical reason why routine male newborn circumcision should be done. It is still popular for religious reasons. Otherwise, it is usually the father who is keen, because he is circumcised, and he wants his son to look like him. The argument of cleanliness is sometimes raised as a reason, but as there are very few circumcisions done for medical reasons later in life this is not considered a valid argument.
Today male newborn circumcision is not available in public hospitals and at Norwest Private and the Sydney Adventist hospitals, where I work, less than 10% of mothers request it. As well, the large majority of obstetricians I know do not do male newborn circumcision procedures.
I have always been available to do male newborn circumcision procedures for my own patients, when requested by the mother. But I have never been prepared to provide this service for the newborn sons of women who were not my patients. I consider the procedure an extension of my service to my patients, rather than another source of revenue.
In the past I could do male newborn circumcision procedures in the Birth(ing) Unit while the mother was still an in-patient. They were easy to arrange.
Now both Norwest Private and the Sydney Adventist hospitals insist on male newborn circumcision procedures being done in the hospital’s operating theatres. At Norwest Private male newborn circumcisions can only be done with the mother is still an in-patient. At the Sydney Adventist Hospital male newborn circumcision procedures can be done after the new mother has been discharged and even if the baby was not born at the San.
Because of my busyness and availability time constraints and the challenges of arranging suitable operating theatre time it is not always possible for me to do the procedure while a patient is still in hospital after confinement.
If I cannot do the procedure myself while the new mother is an in-patient, I can do the procedure myself at the Sydney Adventist Hospital, as long as it is done within the first 6-weeks of her son’s life. This includes for patients confined at Norwest Private Hospital.
If a patient insists on the procedure being done before she is discharged, and if I cannot do it myself while she is still an in-patient, then there is an obstetrician at Norwest Private Hospital and another obstetrician at the San Hospital who I can contact and who are usually available to do the procedure before her postnatal discharge. If confined at the San, I suggest you check this San’s obstetrician fee for doing the procedure before agreeing as patients have told me he is expensive.
There is one obstetrician I know who has rooms in Castle Hill who does newborn circumcision in his rooms. My secretary can arrange this.
