The Fast Facts

Fast Facts

‍

As mentioned in the previous newsletter, Peter Adler, Foregen's legal advisor, had a seminal paper published in the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy that lays out in detail why circumcision is fraudulent under current U.S. law and why doctors, hospitals and medical institutions may be exposed to significant liabilities. Our new executive advisors, Shingo and Adam Lavine, have assembled a legal team that will be imminently filing a legal challenge alleging constructive fraud on the part of hospitals and doctors as well as intentional fraud on the part of the American Academy of Pediatrics or AAP. A site was also launched based on Peter's work circumcisionisafraud.com with the goal of driving awareness around the issue of fraudulent circumcisions and holding doctors, hospitals and medical organizations accountable.

Below are some of the main takeaways from the legal argument based on the paper published in the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy - more information can be found on circumcisionisafraud.com on the pending legal case and the original article can be found here.

‍

Background

• Non-Therapeutic Medical Circumcision is widely performed on the basis of purported medical “benefits.”

• Common purported benefits are that circumcision prevents penile cancer, urinary tract infections, HIV and STDs, but circumcision does not prevent these ailments.

• Common purported benefits are not supported by reality - Europe, which is majority intact, has lower rates of STD infections than the U.S., which is majority circumcised.

• All purported benefits routinely promoted by medical organizations and pediatricians  are questionable at best and fraudulent at worst.

• The foreskin is sensitive, nerve-rich tissue that has evolved over 65 million years in mammals with a necessary and important purpose.

• Male Genital Cutting (MGC) leads to significant physical and emotional issues, often requires additional corrective surgery and has severe complications including death.

• Circumcision has a “100% complication rate” as sensitive erogenous tissue is removed.

• Despite this, doctors and pediatricians still routinely practice non-therapeutic surgery on male infants as it yields not just fees but human tissue which is otherwise difficult to obtain.

• A lot of biomedical research utilizes human foreskins and human foreskins are some of the most valuable tissue for skin transplantation and other procedures.

‍

The Fraud

• The American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) has published material stating circumcision causes no damage to the penis which is patently untrue on its face.

• The AAP further states the benefits of MGC outweighs the risks, but has failed to quantify the benefits and continues to ignore or downplay the risks.

• Purported benefits historically ranged from avoiding insanity, epilepsy, paralysis and nearly all physical and mental illnesses. Today, the list of “benefits” has been whittled down to just minimizing the risk of penile cancer, UTIs and STDs.

• The AAP claiming that the “Benefits outweigh the risks” while failing to publish material quantifying the risks or explaining the downsides is misleading and fraudulent especially with these downsides being well documented academically.

• The AAP has been concerned about the decline in Medicaid revenues which has been adversely affecting the income of AAP “stakeholders.”

• 18 states have today banned the use of Medicaid for circumcision in states where Medicaid is being used to pay for circumcision, which as an unnecessary medical procedure, would not be covered by Medicaid and is thus Medicaid fraud.

• The AAP also historically supported Female Genital Mutilation until pressure rightfully forced them to reverse their position.

• Doctors owe a fiduciary duty to their patients which mandates them to fully explain the downsides and risks associated with male infant circumcision - but in general they do not, largely as a result of the AAP’s recommendations.

• In general, the “diagnosis” used to justify use of medicaid funds for this unnecessary surgery is “newborn baby” because there is no diagnosis on a healthy baby that can justify the surgery.

• The scale of this fraud is massive both in terms of taxpayer dollars spent and, more importantly, in the immense physical and emotional harm to countless babies and men and a widespread perception that circumcision is “normal”

The Law

• Female Genital Cutting (FGC) for infants was outlawed by Congress in 1996 when it was made a federal statutory crime - yet the forms of FGC that were supported by the AAP at the time are less invasive than MGC.

• U.S. Supreme Court held in Prince v. Massachusetts in 1944 that parents are not allowed to expose their children even to the risk of physical or psychological harm based on the parents’ religious beliefs.

• To take the position that MGC is legal while FGC is not is a violation of equal protection under the law.

• MGC is literally and legally assault with a deadly weapon and battery on a child on a baby on a precious, unique and private part of the body.

• Under current law, parents cannot legally provide consent for this surgery or any other non-therapeutic surgery for their children, just as they can’t provide consent for amputating other body parts without legitimate medical need.

• Doctors and the AAP are incorrectly advising parents of their rights, which is malpractice.

• Doctors and medical organizations around the country are engaged in an unfair, deceptive and illegal practice because they are not fully informing parents of the risks and benefits.

• Parents are being deceived into routinely performing surgery that has little to no benefits yet carries significant risks and a lifetime of harm.

• This is a breach of the doctor’s trust, Hippocratic Oath and their fiduciary duties.

• Medicaid does not allow the use of taxpayer funds for unnecessary surgeries so the use of Medicaid funds for MGC is Medicaid fraud.

‍

We believe that driving mainstream awareness and social change will help Foregen and the intactivist movement as a whole accelerate its goals and provide solutions to children, men and their families.

‍