.......
Hi all, I first want to say that I appreciate your listening to my story, I feel that I am being heard. I have another sad story to tell you today too.
Today was resident training day and as part of the rotation, they were being instructed on how to perform a circumcision. Again because of nurse training I was only scheduled to assist with two. Both babies were for the same doctor, so I set up two sets of equipment as well as two boards in the room. I wheeled both boys in and strapped them down side by side. Both began to cry, feeding off the noise of the other. Then the doctor came in with two residents trailing behind him, all were garbed. Brief introductions were made, and I was informed that they would be watching the procedure today. The doctor disinfected the first boy and then draped a cloth over him. He then went over the instruments with the trainees and then went to work. He slowly inserted the probe between the boys foreskin and moved it in a circular motion, all the while explaining to the residents. Apparently satisfied, he pushed the skin back and made a vertical slit with a pair of scissors very slowly, explaining the procedure to the doctors. He was taking twice the usual time all because he needed to explain things!! The baby bucked and pulled at the restraints, but to no avail. The doctor then exposed the bleeding red glans further pointing at it and making more medical observations. The two trainees looked on very intently. The doctor then selected a bell and placed it over the glans, and pulled the skin back over. He placed the rest of the clamp around it inserted the safety pin and and screwed the clamp tight. Now at this point when there are two or more babies, the doctor would begin to clamp the next one. Instead he just waited and discussed the procedure with them. When I commented on this, he just said "One of these two will do him after right?" And he looked around and winked at them. UGH!! After about 5 minutes of pause, the doctor took the scalpel and as the residents looked intently on, he began to make a circular cut. He stopped halfway and did some more talking and then continued on as the baby wailed. The doctors then removed the clamp and bell revealing a completely exposed glans. The doctor then made a visual inspection and pointed out some details. He ran his finger around the glans, oblivious to the sensitivity of it and the cries of the infant and then told them to do the same. ( This was to check against cysts of some sort I guess). He made more observations about how much exposure of the glans is acceptable and pointed details out. He then picked up the scissors to remove the frenulum, pointing out what he was about to do. He made a snip and the baby bucked in pain. But instead of going through with it he stopped halfway and made another talking point!!!! The baby was in AGONY and I wanted to stop the pain, but I could not. He then snipped again, completing the circumcision. God Almighty. The circumcision had taken 25 minutes instead of the usual 10-15. All for training!!! The baby lay limp in the restraints, exhausted from his ordeal. I bandaged him up and tried to comfort him the best I could.
But that is not the end Oh no! The doctor turned to the next baby and asked "Which one of you wants to try?" One of the residents stepped forward and in front of the whimpering boy. He sterilized the area with ointment following the doctors example. Then he began separating the foreskin from the glans with the probe, but haltingly, looking up for assurance from the trainer who just nodded. The boy began screaming, but none of the doctors took notice. He made a dorsal cut and placed the bell over the glans. He attached the clamp as the doctor monotone and coached "Good, now draw the foreskin up, a little further, great! Now secure it with the pin..." The trainee fumbled here inserting the pin through only part of the foreskin. The doctor stopped him: "No, through both sides, take it out and try it again." The poor baby had already been stabbed once and now it was happening a second time!! The trainee did as was told and secured the clamp, tightening the bolt as the baby screamed. He let go as the clamp did its work, and the doctor said "That wasn't too difficult now all you have to do is...." and he went on to describe the rest of the procedure which I am sure you do not need to hear.
Once the 5 minutes were up, the foreskin was excised, and the bell removed. This boy had been scalped!!! There was no skin or slack at all left. Just an exposed glans on a shaft which stuck straight up and down, such was the tension. As the doctor examined the work he just said "Its a little tight there a guess, next time don't take off quite as much but he should be fine." Next the student tried to snip the frenulum. He made the cut as the baby screamed in pain. The doctor took a look and said. "You missed a bit, do it again." And the rest of the frenulum was removed from the screaming boy. The doctor said "Well that's it for the procedure. You all understand it?" They nodded eagerly. "Well then I'll see you both tomorrow, and you'll get a try" he said pointing to the one who had not performed the circumcision. They all left and I bandaged up the screaming boy, and wheeled them both back to the nursery. Another days work done.
Now I apologize for the graphic content of this post, and I do not wish to offend anyone. But I feel that the best way to stop this is for parents to hear the truth. These babies were put through a tremendous amount of excess pain due to training that their parents will never know about. Seeing is believing. Thank you for listening.
I feel a great release being able to talk to you all, let me tell you about where I work. At my hospital, the circumcisions rates are high, probably about 80%. The doctors who I work with all use the gomco clamp and anesthesia is not used. The docs do not seem to care about the harm they are inflicting on these babies. The story I am about to tell is a small sample of what I see and after you read it I leave you to judge what you have read and if you still want this graffic information on this page.
......
Here is how my day yesterday went: I arrived at the hospital early, at about 5 am. I got in my garbs and checked on the newborns. I check the charts and sort the babies. The ones with a red C on the chart are slated for circumcision and they must be ready to go at 7, as most circumcisions are done then. At 645 I begin to take the babies to their designated rooms for circumcision. Some are done indevidualy, others are done assembly line fashion. Yesterday was a light day for me as we were training new nurses, so I only had to assist in one circumcision. Some days it is as much as 15. I went into the circumcision room, layed out the gomco clamp parts and instrument packets and layed out a cloth. Then I went to fetch the baby.
Walking over to a sleeping baby is always one of the hardest parts for me, watching the little angel sound asleep, oblivious to the pain about to be inflicted upon him. The boy awoke with a start as I wheeled the cart into the room. I uncovered his blanket as he squirmed a bit, poor thing! I then undid and removed the diaper and he began to whimper a bit. Then I lifted placed him on the plastic circumstraint and began straping him down as he tried to resist and began to cry. This always breaks my heart as I know that I am letting this happen, I always want to snatch them away but I know I can't. I then take my place to the right of the table as the doctor walks in. He swabbed the genital area with disenfectant and laid the surgical drape over him, pulling the penis through. The baby was of course crying now, and I bite my lip like always. He then begins to seperate the foreskin from the glans ripping and tearing as the baby let out a blood curtiling wail. He made a slit and tried to insert the bell but he made an error and the bell would not go in as the slit was not long enough. He jammed the bell in anyway tearing the skin as the baby's head tilted up and let out a scream. Oh I wanted to hit that doctor! He had no idea what pain he was causing. After placing the skin through the bell and securing it with a safty pin, which I always find disgusting, he screwed the bell shut and turned toward me. He then tried to make conversation with me, asking about my family!!!!! All the while with a screaming baby in the background! After the designated 5 minutes, he assembled the scalpel and made a circular cut as the boy screamed loudly. I have found that just looking at the operation is much easier then looking at the contorted face of the baby. The doc then removed the bell, leaving a very exposed glans, with no skin build up behind it. After a quick exam to the still screaming infant he picked up the tissue scissors and snipped the frenulum!! The baby screamed again as the doc motioned for me to take over and went to wash up. Reluctantly standing over the infant, I applied vasiline to his bleading glans, and wrapped the penis in gauze. Then I removed him from the circumstraint, rediapered his trembling body and wheeled him back to the nursery filled with wailing boys. Welcome to this world.
If you are shocked by what you read, keep in mind that I see this daily and it is painful to see. I will continue to provide these terrible stories as long as you wish as it is a release for me Thank you. Sandy
.....
hi all, The circumcisions have been continuing as usual. However I must share my latest experiance with a mass circumcision.
For some reason we had about an large amount of births yesterday, the babies just kept coming, and most were boys. Of course, 2 of the doctors who do most of the procedures were out this week, and so we were understaffed circumcision wise. Most of the parents, sadly, chose circumcision for their boys, and so when I checked in this morning, we had over 30 circumcisions to do!! The doctor came in early and we discussed the problem. He would be doing 16 of them, in two batches of 8 (since we only have 8 boards in the room.) 2 other nurses came to help out as we set up the equipment and stapped the babies down. The doctor moved quickly, clamping one changing his gloves and moving on to the next. He did not spend time observing or moving carefully. If the slit to insert the bell was not long enough, the bell was jammed in anyway, tearing the skin. The doctor came around again and excised the foreskin of each boy before moving on, leaving us to the aftercare. When he was done, there was a row of screaming infants, writhing in pain. We bandaged them up, put them back and retrieved the next set of 8 and the procedure was repeated.
Just needed to let that out. Thank you.