Model Circumcision Informed Consent Form
In the United States, the American Academy of Pediatrics states, "Physicians counseling families concerning this decision should assist the parents by explaining the potential benefits and risks and by ensuring that they understand that circumcision is an elective procedure. Parents should not be coerced by medical professionals to make this choice."
In the United Kingdom, the British Medical Association states, "The BMA strongly recommends that either the written consent of BOTH parents, or of the person with parental responsibility be obtained for circumcision. Parents must be aware of the nature and implications of the procedure, and the risks involved."
In Canada, the Canadian Paediatric Society states, "When parents are making a decision about circumcision, they should be advised of the present state of medical knowledge about its benefits and harms."
In Australia, the Australasian Association of Pediatric Surgeons states, "Parents requesting circumcision of their male children should have the complications both general and local, explained to them. These complications are usually minor but can be severe and may result in the death of the child."
[The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists emphasize that male neonatal circumcision is an elective surgical procedure that is to be carried out only at the request of the parents. An elective surgical procedure is one that is not necessary for good health. Non-circumcision is a reasonable and healthy alternative to circumcision.]
Informed Consent for Circumcision Form
by R. S. Van Howe, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Male circumcision is a surgical procedure where 25-50% of the skin of the penis is removed. It is important that you understand the well-established known risks of the surgical procedure as well as the possible, but unproven, benefits.
Known Risks
The following inherent risks are iatrogenic (doctor caused), and result directly from neonatal circumcision surgery. Significant complications from neonatal circumcision range from 2% to 10%.
- Hemorrhage (bleeding): Serious hemorrhage occurs in about 2% of infants, resulting in shock and sometimes death. While death is a rare complication of circumcision, it does occur. Boys with unrecognized bleeding disorders are at risk for serious hemorrhage.
- Infections: Localized or systemic infections include bacteremia, septicemia, meningitis, osteomyelitis, lung abscess, diphtheria, tuberculosis, staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome, gangrene of the penis and scrotum, scrotal abscess, impetigo, necrotizing fascitis of the abdominal wall, tetanus and necrosis of the perineum. A realistic infection rate is probably as high as 10%. Serious infections can cause irreparable and lifelong harm.
- Urinary retention: Swelling from the trauma of the surgery, pain associated with attempts at urination, and sometimes the Plastibell device (if used) can cause the infant to retain urine, leading, at times, to acute obstructive uropathy, when the bladder distends to the point of rupture.
- Laceration of penile skin: Results in varying degrees of skin tone variance.
- Excessive penile skin loss: Occurs when so much of the prepuce is drawn forward that the entire penile skin sheath is removed. From puberty on, penile bowing (curvature) and pain occurs at the time of erection. With erection, pubic hair can be pulled forward onto the penile shaft, and bleeding during sex can occur from shaft skin tears. Skin grafts are sometimes required.
- Beveling deformities of the glans (head of the penis): Varying amounts of the glans are shaved off leaving a scarred, beveled surface and, at times, the entire glans is amputated.
- Hypospadias: While more frequently a congenital defect, hypospadias can also result from circumcision. When the frenular area (underside of the penis) is drawn too far forward, the crushing bell may injure the urethra at the time the foreskin is removed, resulting in a urethral opening on the underside of the shaft.
- Epispadias: When one limb of the crushing clamp inadvertently is passed into the urethra and is closed, it crushes the upper portion of the urethra and glans, creating a urethral opening on the dorsum (top) of the glans.
- Retention of the Plastibell ring: The Plastibell, which normally falls off in 10 days, may get buried under the skin, causing ulceration and/or necrosis. Loss of the glans has also been reported.
- Chordee (permanent bowing of the penis): While often congenital, this can also result from circumcision. Dense scarring at the frenular area causes penile bowing upon erection and may require plastic surgery to repair.
- Keloid formation: Prominent scars can occur where the skin-mucous membrane has been incised, crushed or sutured.
- Lymphedema: Chronic swelling of the glans due to infection or surgical trauma, which can block lymphatic return.
- Concealed penis: The circumcised penis becomes hidden in the fat pad of the pubic area, requiring surgery to bring the penis out again.
- Skin bridges and penile adhesions: A common complication consisting of one or more thick areas of scar tissue that form bridges between the coronal edge of the raw glans penis (head) and the raw circumcision wound on the shaft. For some men, these can be quite painful during erection, restricting the free movement of the shaft skin and pulling on the glans.
- Phimosis of remaining foreskin: When only a segment of the foreskin is removed, the remaining tip sometimes becomes tight and non-retractable, requiring a second surgery.
- Preputial cysts: Cysts caused by infection or mechanical distortion blocking the sebaceous glands.
- Skin tags: Can occur at the circumcision line, representing an uneven removal of skin.
- Loss of part or all of the penis: This can be caused by constricting rings, such as the Plastibell, or by use of an electrocautery device. More frequently, the loss is the result of infection, with the penis becoming increasingly necrotic (dead tissue) until finally the entire organ falls off. The proposed solution in many cases is to raise the child as a girl.
- Meatitis: Inflammation of the urethral opening from the loss of protective foreskin, which can lead to ulceration and meatal stenosis (narrowing). Many infants and children suffer this after their loss of protective foreskin.
- Meatal ulceration: Caused by meatitis and/or abrasions from dry diapers and from diapers soiled with urine and feces. Meatal ulceration does not occur in the intact male and occurs in up to 50% of circumcised infants.
- Meatal stenosis: In advanced meatal ulceration, scar tissue can constrict the urethral opening causing urinary obstruction. Meatal stenosis is usually not apparent for several years, occurring in about one-third of all circumcised infants and not at all in intact males.
- Progressive loss of glans sensitivity: This is the most common complaint of adult circumcised men, whereby some men report stimulated needed to the point of pain to achieve orgasm.
- Sexual dysfunction: Includes impotence and premature ejaculation.
- Nonspecific urethritis: This venereal disease is more common in circumcised adults.
- Gastric rupture: Has been reported associated with prolonged crying during circumcision.
- Glans necrosis: The head of the penis can lose its blood supply and begin to rot from the scarring that follows circumcision.
- Tachycardia, heart failure and myocardial injury: Have been reported associated with the procedure.
- Death: Occurs at a rate of 1 in 5,000.
The permanent psychological trauma of having the most sensitive part of a boy's anatomy removed shortly after birth without anesthesia has not been fully investigated.
Complications From Anesthesia (if used):
- Bleeding: Usually consists of small ecchymoses (bruises) at injection sites at a rate of around 1.2%.
- Loss of blood supply to the genitals: This has been reported following a dorsal penile nerve block where the wrong local anesthetic was used.
- Methemoglobinemia
Presumed (But Unproven) Benefits
The American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Circumcision in 1975 proclaimed that there is no medical indication for circumcision of the newborn. The Task Force met again in 1989 and concluded that the procedure may have some potential medical benefits. To date, none of these benefits have been conclusively proven. The Task Force met again in 1999 and concluded that the potential medical benefits were so slight that neonatal male circumcision could not be recommended.[Potential medical benefits are conjectured benefits that have not been proven to actually exist.]
- Urinary tract infections: A few studies have suggested that boys who are not circumcised may have a 1% chance of developing a urinary tract infection. These studies have all been done either in military or inner-city hospitals and suffer serious methodological flaws. The one study that has not been done in military or inner-city hospitals showed a urinary tract infection rate of 0.12%, which was the same as for boys who were circumcised. The risk of urinary tract infections in Sweden (where none of the boys are circumcised) is 0.5%. There is also some evidence that circumcision may help mask the symptoms of serious urinary tract abnormalities.
- Penile cancer: There is an assumed association in the United States between not being circumcised and penile cancer, but now it is known that most cases of penile cancer are caused by human papilloma virus, which is acquired through sexual intercourse. In Denmark and Japan (where few boys are circumcised), the rate of penile cancer is the same as the United States. More baby boys die from circumcision than men die of penile cancer.
- Phimosis (narrowing of the foreskin opening): A condition that occurs in less than 1% of boys. Of these, 80% can be successfully treated with steroid cream. The remaining 20% can be treated with plastic surgery that preserves the foreskin.
- AIDS: Studies out of Africa suggest that HIV infections are more common in men with foreskins. These studies did not account for cultural, economic and religious differences between the two groups of men. Whether this pertains to the United States is debatable. The United States has one of the highest rates of circumcision in the world as well as one of the most rapid increases in HIV infections in the world.
- Hygiene: A recent study showed no significant difference between the number of penile problems experienced by boys who were or were not circumcised. The boys who were circumcised had more problems early in life, while the boys who were not circumcised had more problems later one. None of the problems encountered in the studied population were serious.
First Parent Witness
Second Parent Date
(Required in U. K.)
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