← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Brooke
Thread ID: 16564 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2005-02-03
2005-02-03 18:05 | User Profile
(credit to [url=http://www.littlegeneva.com/badlands/]Badonicus[/url] for the original title and head's up on this story. . .)
[url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/277025p-237314c.html ]Fear rabbi gave tots herpes[/url]
Probe death of baby after circumcision
By MAGGIE HABERMAN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Originally published on February 2, 2005
City health officials are investigating whether a baby boy died after contracting herpes from the rabbi who circumcised him, the Daily News has learned.
The probe was launched after city officials realized that three infants in the city who tested positive for herpes last year all were circumcised by Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer. The Rockland County-based Fischer is a prominent mohel - someone who performs religious circumcisions.
Under Jewish law, a mohel is supposed to draw blood from the circumcision wound to remove impurities. While many mohels do it by hand, Fischer uses a practice little known outside ultra-Orthodox communities called [u]metzizah bi peh, in which the mohel uses his mouth[/u].
On Oct. 16, 2004, Fischer performed a bris, or religious circumcision, on twins. Ten days later, one infant died of herpes, and the other tested positive for the virus, according to papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court by city lawyers.
A few weeks later, city Health Department officials found a third baby, on Staten Island, who also tested positive for herpes after being circumcised by Fischer in late 2003, the papers say.
Herpes is far more dangerous to infants than adults because of babies' fragile immune systems. The health status of the two surviving boys was not clear yesterday.
The city "is concerned that the possible transmission of herpes simplex virus type 1 in infants may be continuing as a result of defendant's practice of metzizah bi peh," city lawyers wrote in the complaint, dated Dec. 22. "Defendant's conduct to date constitutes a threat to the public health."
The custom of metzizah is thousands of years old. But experts said that these days, many mohels breathe in through a sterile tube to draw the blood instead of using their mouths directly on the wound, although in some ultra-Orthodox sects, the oral practice is mandatory.
The city asked Fischer to submit to a blood test in November, and ordered him to stop performing metzizah by mouth while waiting for the results, court papers show. Officials told him to use a sterile tube and gloves in the meantime.
But the Health Department got a report that Fischer wasn't following the order, so the city filed the legal complaint to compel him do so.
Fischer, 66, declined to comment yesterday.
His lawyer, Mark Kurzmann, wouldn't say whether Fischer has done the blood test, citing medical confidentiality. But he said Fischer is "cooperating with the city's investigation to resolve this matter."
"My client is known internationally as a caring, skilled and conscientious mohel," Kurzmann said.
He suggested the babies could have contracted herpes elsewhere. He also said there are concerns about the government regulating religious practices.
City lawyers declined to comment.
Health officials, aware of the sensitivity of the issue, have been talking extensively to community leaders.
"There's been a constructive dialogue between the community and the Department of Health, and we're working with [them] to ensure the safety of all our city's children," said Arie Lipnic, spokesman for City Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn).
2005-02-03 18:07 | User Profile
[url=http://nextbook.org/cultural/digest.html?sort=medicine ]When a Tradition Goes Awry[/url]
health: 08.09.04
Mohels who perform metzizahââ¬âthe suctioning of blood from a circumcised infantââ¬âusing their mouths rather than a sterile instrument infected eight newborns with genital herpes in recent years, say researchers in Israel and Canada. "This entity is [u]underreported for cultural reasons[/u]," they write in Pediatrics, suggesting the cases are "[u]only the 'tip of the iceberg[/u].'"
2005-02-03 18:11 | User Profile
[url=http://tinyurl.com/728jh ]PEDIATRICS Vol. 114 No. 2 August 2004, pp. e259-e263[/url]
Neonatal Genital Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Infection After Jewish Ritual Circumcision: Modern Medicine and Religious Tradition
Snips. . .
Objective. Genital neonatal herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection was observed in a series of neonates after traditional Jewish ritual circumcision. The objective of this study was to describe neonate genital HSV-1 infection after ritual circumcision and investigate the association between genital HSV-1 after circumcision and the practice of the traditional circumcision.
Methods. Eight neonates with genital HSV-1 infection after ritual circumcision were identified.
Results. The average interval from circumcision to clinical manifestations was 7.25 ñ 2.5 days. In all cases, the traditional circumciser (the mohel) had performed the ancient custom of orally suctioning the blood after cutting the foreskin (oral metzitzah), which is currently practiced by only a minority of mohels. Six infants received intravenous acyclovir therapy. Four infants had recurrent episodes of genital HSV infection, and 1 developed HSV encephalitis with neurologic sequelae. All four mohels tested for HSV antibodies were seropositive.
Because in every case the mohel had removed the blood by mouth after cutting the foreskin, it was most likely that the infection was transmitted directly from this oral or salivary contact. All of the mohels [u]who consented to be tested[/u] were seropositive.
The Babylonian Talmud (Sabbath 133b), the main rabbinical literature completed in the fifth century of the common era, states that for the sake of the infant, the mohel is obliged to perform the metzitzah" so as not to bring on risk."
In the 19th century, Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818ââ¬â1865) established the principles of hygiene and disease transmission,15 after neonatal tuberculosis was documented after circumcision by an infected mohel.
However, some orthodox rabbis have felt threatened by criticism of the old religious customs [u]and strongly resist any change in the traditional custom of oral metzitzah[/u].
Our findings provide evidence that ritual Jewish circumcision with oral metzitzah may cause oralââ¬âgenital transmission of HSV infection, resulting in clinical disease including involvement of the skin, mucous membranes, and HSV encephalitis. Furthermore, oral suction may not only endanger the child but also may expose the mohel to human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis B from infected infants.
2005-02-03 18:15 | User Profile
[url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/277220p-237488c.html%3Cbr%3E ]Circumcision rite is risky, city says[/url]
BY MAGGIE HABERMAN DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Originally published on February 3, 2005
A form of religious circumcision holds "inherent risks" for babies, the city health commissioner said yesterday.
Dr. Thomas Frieden's comments came the day the Daily News reported that his agency is investigating whether an infant who died of herpes last year contracted the disease from the rabbi who circumcised him.
Two more city babies were found to have contracted herpes after they were circumcised by the same rabbi, Rockland County-based Yitzchok Fischer.
Fischer practices a ritual used mostly among ultra-Orthodox Jews called metzizah bi peh, in which the person performing the circumcision draws blood from the wound using his mouth.
"We do believe that there are inherent risks to this practice and we're discussing those in a respectful" way with ultra-Orthodox leaders, Frieden said.
In November and again in December, the city ordered Fischer, a prominent mohel who claims to have performed more than 12,000 circumcisions, to submit to a blood test to determine whether he has herpes simplex 1 virus.
Neither Frieden nor Fischer's lawyer would say yesterday whether the test had been done.
The issue of metzizah bi peh has been debated in recent years within the Jewish community. Some, like Yeshiva University Prof. Rabbi Moshe Tendler, argue it's not required and too risky.
But Frieden's comments touched off concern among other Jewish leaders, who said they were leery of government intervention in religious custom.[color=#6666CC] But they sure don't miss a beat promoting government interference into the religious practices of the goyim![/color]
Chana Ausband, a Rockland County mother, said Fischer performed her baby's circumcision. "What he's doing is following tradition. For years and years, that has not caused any problems," Ausband said.
2005-02-03 20:52 | User Profile
Oh man, can I get a big
Ewwwwwwwwww....
2005-02-04 03:20 | User Profile
Damn! i was about to post this.
That is the most disgusting thing ever. What do they mean by judeo-christian, anyway? Is that in any way, CHRISTIAN?
Hell no.
2005-02-04 03:29 | User Profile
[url=www.nynews.com/newsroom/020305/a0103rabbinew.html]Monsey rabbi investigated[/url]
By STEVE LIEBERMAN THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: February 3, 2005)
A lawyer for the Monsey [u]Hasidic[/u] rabbi suspected of transmitting a fatal case of herpes to a baby boy during a circumcision said yesterday that the practice of suctioning blood orally is thousands of years old and integral to the religion.
But one local scholar said such unsanitized rituals actually violated Jewish law. Another rabbi saw the case as outsiders frowning on Hasidic traditions.
Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer is being investigated by New York City health officials after a baby died of herpes, and two others contracted the disease.
Fischer, a mohel in Rockland, the metropolitan area and Israel, [u]uses his mouth to suck the blood from the wound caused by cutting the baby's foreskin[/u]. The centuries-old ritual, called "metzizah bi peh," is used predominantly by Hasidic Jews, [u]who consider the practice mandatory[/u] for newborns.
Most other Jewish mohels wear surgical gloves and use sterilized instruments. Many other mohels who do that part of the ritual use a medical tube to suction the blood, several rabbis said yesterday.
Ritual circumcision, or bris, dates to the prophet Abraham and is said to symbolize God's covenant with the Jewish people.
Fischer is not accused of violating any criminal laws. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene took civil action under its legal powers to protect the health and safety of the children and investigate outbreaks of communicable diseases.
After a child died of herpes and two others were infected, the city's health commissioner ordered Fischer to undergo blood tests for herpes and stop using the mouth suction method without a tube until the issue was resolved. He continued to use the mouth suction method, so court orders were sought in December, the city's lawyers wrote in court papers.
Fischer's lawyer, Mark J. Kurzmann, said yesterday that the rabbi was cooperating with the city's investigation. Kurzmann, whose son, Hillel, also is working on the case, [u]declined to say whether the rabbi would submit to a blood test[/u], citing medical privacy reasons.
"The source of the children's herpes has not been confirmed, and it may have been an unfortunate coincidence," Kurzmann said.
"This is [u]an integral part of the religious practice[/u] for thousands of years," Kurzmann said. "There have been hundreds of thousands of babies who have undergone this ritual, and the incidence of herpes is virtually nil." [color=#6666CC](Admitting that sucking the penis of a baby boy is an "integral part" of their "religious practice". Admitting they are depraved and perverted, yet where is the outcry against any who would do or advocate such? Where is the outcry against parents who voluntarily submit their child to such??)[/color]
Fischer, 66, could not be reached for comment at his home. Kurzmann said he would speak for the rabbi, who was trained in circumcisions by the British Milah Society.
The city health department took action after being notified in November that a newborn less than three weeks old had died Oct. 26 of herpes simplex virus type 1. The infant's twin brother tested positive for the infection. Fischer performed the double bris on Oct. 16, the city's court papers state.
City health department officials later learned that a Staten Island baby also tested positive for herpes after being circumcised by the rabbi in late 2003, according to the court papers.
Herpes is far more dangerous to infants than adults because of their fragile immune systems. An outbreak of a disease is defined in the city's health code as one that has been reported in three or more instances.
"The New York City Department Health and Mental Hygiene is concerned that the possible transmission of herpes simplex in infants is continuing as a result of the ... practice of Metzizah bi peh," city lawyers wrote in court papers dated Dec. 22.
The mouth-suction ritual during a circumcision is not mandated by Jewish law, said Rabbi Moses Tendler, a professor of ethical medical practices and Talmudic law at Yeshiva University. Tendler, the rabbi of Community Synagogue of Monsey, also serves on the Rabbinical Council of America, an Orthodox Jewish group.
Tendler said the unsanitized ritual performed by Fischer violated Jewish law. Tendler said the Talmud refers to sucking the blood from the wound, but doesn't specifically indicate using one's mouth.
"I protested his use of oral suction as violating good medical practices, which he is required to do under Jewish law," Tendler said. "Jewish law has recognized there has been an increase in knowledge of hygiene and medical advances over the centuries. It is not a lack of respect for the traditions or Jewish law to use a tube."
Monsey Rabbi David Eidensohn, 62, said the spreading of disease is rare through the oral suction method. He said his five sons and numerous grandsons, as well as [u]hundreds of thousands of newborn boys[/u], had undergone the procedure. Fischer, he said, is a respected mohel across the region and in Israel.
"This represents people frowning on our traditions," Eidensohn said. [color=#6666CC](You betcher ass they SHOULD frown on your perverted, disgusting traditions!)[/color] "If this happened regularly or even occasionally, we would be the first to stop the practice ourselves. We don't want to kill our children. This is a tragedy for the families."
Stanley J. Kogan, chief of pediatric urology at Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, has been performing in-hospital circumcisions for three decades.
"In my 30 years of doing circumcisions, I have never had a patient develop an infection with genital herpes afterward," said Kogan, who has a private practice in White Plains and is on staff at Nyack Hospital. "That speaks to just how unusual it is."
Physicians performing circumcisions are careful to clean the patient's skin before the incision is made. All instruments are sterile, and special care is taken to make sure that the tissue is treated gently to prevent trauma, he said.
But occasionally, babies develop complications from circumcision, he said.
"Even in the cleanest operating room under the best circumstances, you can get an infection," Kogan said. "There is never no risk with any surgical procedure."
2005-02-04 05:12 | User Profile
MadScienceType
That would be my first though! :yucky: :eek:
[QUOTE]Oh man, can I get a big
Ewwwwwwwwww....[/QUOTE]
How did this "rabbi" get Genital Herpes?
Maybe a :caiphas: paid a :pimp: for **** with an :afro: ?
:thumbd: