Criminal law, Lawyering, Religion, Society, Torts

Rabbi Accused of Infecting Infants with Herpes During Circumcisions — And Killing One Boy

180px-Covenant_of_AbrahamNew York City health officials are investigating the death of a baby boy who died of herpes after a circumcision by Rabbi Yitzhok Fischer. Fischer carries the herpes virus and is believed to have infected two other infants while serving as a mohel. Under the Orthodox practice followed by Fischer, he actually uses his mouth to suck the blood from the infant’s penis when he cuts the foreskin.

Infants are particularly susceptible to the virus given their reduced immunity systems. Within ten days of the circumcision, one of twin boys died from the virus and another was infected.

The Book of Genesis stipulates circumcision as a defining mark for the descendants of Abraham: “Throughout all generations, every male shall be circumcised when he is eight days old…This shall be my covenant in your flesh, an eternal covenant. The uncircumcised male whose foreskin has not been circumcised, shall have his soul cut off from his people; he has broken my Covenant.” (Genesis 17:1-14)

Metzitzah b’peh (“suction by mouth”) is rarely used outside of the Haredi and Hasidic communities. Under this practice, the mohel spits the blood into a receptacle provided. While most mohelim rinse their mouths out with alcohol to sanitize them, alcohol may not kill the herpes virus.

This will make for some novel criminal and tort litigation. It is difficult to see how this shocking practice can be allowed as a public health matter. As a matter of torts, the families can clearly sue this rabbi for negligence with punitive damage potential. Indeed, I believe that there could would be a strong case for battery. The question will be reckless homicide and other criminal charges. Presumably, this rabbi knew he was a carrier and yet proceeded to use his mouth rather than the more common suction device.

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232 thoughts on “Rabbi Accused of Infecting Infants with Herpes During Circumcisions — And Killing One Boy”

  2. The trolls are coming out in force. Either JT is about to write another story critical of the govt. or some more news that will embarrass the govt. is on the way.

  3. Mike pull your head out of your butt-hole and smell the coffee. You a are a not to bright, law school flunky, who should stick to watching re-runs of love boat, sound about right moron!

  4. Mike Spindell is living proof that even when you possess an IQ below 50 you can still blog on this absurd site. If stupidity were a virtue he would be canonized….

  7. Those who are curious can see some restored foreskins in the documentary “Cut” which I posted above.

  8. Actually you are mistaken on both counts. As a physician, I have a differing view of circumcision and the data coming out of Arica is precisely what I refer to, in this study, as well as others.

    J. Sobngwi-Tambekou,1 D. Taljaard,2 M. Nieuwoudt,3 P. Lissouba,1 A. Puren 3 and B. Auvert 4

    1INSERM U687, Hôpital Paul Brousse, Villejuif, France
    2Progressus, Johannesburg, South Africa
    3National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa
    4INSERM U687, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, University of Versailles, France

    Authors’ Contributions: JT and BA analysed the data and wrote the first draft. DT organised the collection of the samples. MN and AP analysed the samples. All authors contributed to the writing of the paper.

    Competing Interests: Non

    The fact that N gonorrhoeae and C trachomatis are almost exclusively urethral pathogens may explain why male circumcision has no protective effect against them. In contrast, the protective effect against T vaginalis may indicate that T vaginalis is both a sub-preputial and a urethral pathogen.

    There is also evidence that male circumcision reduces T vaginalis acquisition by female partners. A recent randomised study conducted in Rakai, Uganda, among HIV discordant heterosexual couples indicated that the rate of T vaginalis infection among partners of participants from the intervention arms was reduced by almost half (adjusted risk ratio 0.52, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.98).[13] Hence, our study illustrates why male circumcision is protective against T vaginalis infection among women having circumcised partners. Indeed, as shown in our study, male circumcision reduces the risk of T vaginalis infection among men and consequently reduces the exposure of women to T vaginalis. Thus, the risk of T vaginalis infection is lowered among women.

    Some studies have suggested that T vaginalis facilitates the spread of HIV by up to twofold.[15,23,30,31] Thus, the effect of male circumcision on HIV acquisition in young men may partly be due to its effect on T vaginalis. If the results of this study are confirmed by those of the male circumcision trials conducted in Uganda and Kenya, the findings of this study will reinforce the WHO-UNAIDS statement recommending the implementation of male circumcision programmes in African countries with low male circumcision prevalence and a high male circumcision acceptability.[32

  10. “I’m well aware. Circumcision also reduces the risk of bladder infections. So what? It’s an utter absurdity to recommend such a radical measure for treatable infections.”

    Domino,
    That was in response to Patty C’s point that medical evidence shows circumcision is helpful in reducing STD’s and HIV. So bladder infections, STD and HIV reduction might at least point to the fact that there can be some purpose to circumcision, other then “religious barbarism.” To be frank though, I don’t care if non-Jewish males are circumcised, or not. That is their parents business. I’m happy with my penis, the way it looks and the ease of keeping it clean. I’m also happy to be a Jew. Every jewish male I know and realizing what a widespread conspiracy Judaism is that must be millions, are happy to be circumcised.

    To me those who aren’t are ridiculous. Why, because there’s nothing they can do about it, so why get crazy. The have the option of not circumcising their male children. I inherited severe heart disease from my parents and family, a much more serious problem. What profit is there for me to go around blaming my parents for ever having the temerity to have me. There are many Jewish neurotics in the world, Woody Allen and Larry David aren’t kidding, but their need to detail their angst at not having a foreskin is unsolvable and thus absurd. If parents don’t want their male children circumcised that’s fine with me, my own children feel differently on the topic.

    As for your extensive evidence, in the end it is highly anecdotal and at base there is little scientific research backing you up. The African Circumcision piece is illustrative. The conclusion to be drawn is that there shouldn’t be circumcision programs because some men believe it protects them during unprotected sex, which of course it doesn’t. Don’t you realize that the reasoning there is not about circumcision, but about people’s ignorance or mis understandings? Actually, I guess you don’t because this seems to be a very big issue with you. Fine, you have the right to speak freely, but Jews have the right to practice their religion freely as long as its’ practices are not harful to the public good. You fail by far to make the case that circumcision falls into that category.

  11. “I believe based on the talmud and the bible, as well as koran (for all 3 originate from the abraham myth), these self-styled jews are evil. Just read your own talmud.”

    “The question for you to ask is, “Are TruthBeKnown’s statements the truth?”

    TruthBeKnown,
    Answering your second statement first, there is nothing you’ve said that would cause me to think your statements are truth. The Talmud does not equate to the Bible (Christian), or the Koran. The Talmud is a very large compendium of opinions on Jewish Law compiled over many centuries. If you understood what your were talking about you would have equated the Torah (Five Books of Moses) with the Gospels and the Koran. Given that, your other points are suspect. Further more while you quote it freely you don’t realize that the Talmud is such a large corpus that it takes years of study to master it in Yeshivah, which is like a Law School in Hebrew Law. Afterwards though the issues it raises are so complex that most learned Jews spend their lives studying it. I somehow think that you do not fall into that category, so your quoting it is from sources most probably taking what they wish to attempt to prove out of context.

    “They are all run by jews who protect their own. You never see anything from so-called israel about how these rabbis attack women and spit on Western journalists.”

    This and the rest of your initial diatribe clearly show that you are not a fan of Israel or its existence. Now I could of course debate that whole issue with you but it would be fruitless. You have your pre-judgments and the nature of your statements are such that I can see they are deeply held. A debate with you would be an attempt to convince others that they should support my positions on Israel, about which you have no understanding, but which I’ve written about on this site extensively.

    “Pedophiles are all over those yeshivas.
    Talmud tells you it’s alright for a man to have sex with a girl who is three years and one day old. Very sick religion.”

    When did you stop beating your significant other?

    I get it you don’t like Judaism or by extension Jews, but like some others you’ll probably be telling me you have Jewish friends. Is there pedophilia among Jews, of course there is. Is it at a rate approaching that of Catholic Priests, not likely, but certainly possible. Jews are just as likely as any other group to have human foibles and failings.
    However, there are some, like you I think, who would label all Jews evil because we have some bad people. That is your right and no matter how stupid and bigoted I think that might be, the only thing to be gained by debating with you is drawing attention to your nonsensical ideas. I’m not biting.

    As I stated previously: You don’t like Jews, we don’t like you.

  13. I’m well aware. Circumcision also reduces the risk of bladder infections. So what? It’s an utter absurdity to recommend such a radical measure for treatable infections.

    There are far saner ways to prevent the transmission of HIV. Have you heard?

  14. Sorry to tell you, guys, there is medical evidence that circumcision is still very much consideration with respect to STD prevention.

    And the evidence to support it is even more dramatic as to HIV.

  15. “Male circumcision: pain, trauma, and psychosexual sequelae” addresses Methodological Caveats (p. 14) and says that there is no medical association anywhere in the world that recommends routine circumcision (p. 4).

  16. DOMINO
    “…Almost every line of the paper references sources and hyperlinks to the supporting research are provided.”

    I read most of it and the number of references are impressive. There were two things that struck me about the study: the first was the above quoted passage regarding a lack of studies and the second was the statistic that 80% of the worlds male population are not circumcised. That tells me right there that more studies across the full range of medical and psychological effects of circumcision need to be undertaken and that a significant majority of males seem to do just fine without the procedure. I base that upon the fact that I have never seen a news item stating that males in appreciable number were at risk for some specific health problem due to having a foreskin.

    If in fact there is no medical reason to perform this procedure (or any other elective procedure) on a child as a matter of public policy should it even be legal prior to a child reaching the age of majority absent a specific religious exemption? Is there any other purely elective surgery parents are allowed to have performed on their children legally (or as a matter consistent with with the cannon of medical ethics) absent a religious exemption?

  18. Circumcision: A Barbaric Practice, A Human Rights Violation

    -Steven Svoboda is a 38-year-old attorney who has reorganized his work life to devote the majority of his time to men’s work. He is founder and director of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, an organization devoted to developing legal approaches to stopping circumcision.

  19. Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision

    Cut is a documentary film by Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon which examines the subject of male circumcision from a religious, scientific and ethical perspective. Using cutting-edge research, in addition to interview footage of rabbis, philosophers, and scientists, Cut challenges the viewer to confront their biases by asking difficult questions about this long-standing practice.

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