Carl Friedrichs, III, M.D.

I mean, I understand the rationale behind it. I don't encourage it, and when I do 'em, I don't like doin' 'em. And the reason that I do 'em now is because the parents are patients-- they have an expectation that their child should be circumcised-- and it's somewhat out of respect for that, more than anything else.

Well, I think that, you know, circumcision is primarily [a] cultural phemonenon.

If I got to where I just didn't respect that parents have the right to make decisions for their kids, then I probably would stop. Or, if I got to feeling like I was really doing harm to the child, then, also, I would stop.

This is a dilema. I don't like doing 'em. I sit there and I think, "Should I keep doing 'em?" It's this thing I struggle with. I don't really like doing 'em. I don't think it's necessary. I might stop doing 'em.

[He stopped performing circumcisions two months after this interview.]

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