Toddler Dies Following Routine Circumcision At NYC Hospital

Family: He Was Given General Anesthetic Instead Of Local

May 5, 2011 11:54 PM

Generic Hospital Sign – File / Photo: AP

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NEW YORK (CBS 2) — A devastated Brooklyn family was demanding answers Thursday after a toddler died following a routine circumcision.

Jamaal Coleson Jr., who would have turned 2 next month, died on Tuesday, hours after undergoing the medical procedure at Beth Israel Medical Center.

The boy’s family told CBS 2 the young child was given a general anesthetic instead of a local.

The New York State Department of Health is now investigating the case.

The hospital said it is also conducting its own internal review.

Please offer your thoughts in the comments section below.

Toddler Dies Following Routine Circumcision At NYC Hospital

Norm

It is a barbaric primitive ritualistic mutilation steeped in archaic cultural and religious belief systems. There is no real advantage or medical reason for the practice. Even a restrictive foreskin can be modified by plastic surgery techniques. In a modern and supposedly enlightened world we should have shed these practices. In the interest of equality, if you cut your sons then you should cut your daughters as well.

JW

YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!!

Jennifer

No — he’s EDUCATED. If you actually knew what was done to these babies/children you’d be as horrified and sickened as those of us who actually know the truth about what happens. Sheesh, the family should be glad that the hospital actually bothered to anesthetize the child at all, since days old babies don’t even have THAT in most cases. There’s no reason to think that the child died because of the anesthesia. It’s much more likely he died of any of the other very common reasons that 100+ baby boys die (per year) in the U.S. as they do from SIDS.
JH

No, you’re the idiot.
kirsten

If you want to see an idiot look in the mirror @ JW

teresa

@ NORM: sorry, we females get cut on enough Norm. chunks of our breasts taken out, scars down our bellies w/ babies cut out, episiotomies ( spelling there*) when we dont need them for natural childbirth, stretch marks all over our bodies as we grow to accomodate babies and breast milk. No, Norm, in the interest of EQUALITY, you dont want men to be equal w/ females on the cutting and scars.

On another note, my Ex was not circed and I must say, I think i would prefer a circed guy for sex…. just saying…

Luek

@ teresa….Oh, poor, poor thang! Oh, how you and other women have suffered. Oh, my you are such a pitiful poor thang. Birth marks! Caesarian scars! Breast milk scars? Any who, poor, poor teresa!
Proud Mom

Umm…”chunks of our breasts taken out”, is normally done to remove cancer. As a female, I must say that I’d gladly give up some breast tissue to save my life. And, as a mom of three, I’d gladly have had a c-section to save the life of my baby. As far as stretch marks, that just life, lady. You are too weird for words.

Luek

Good for you Norm! Finally, somebody who has gotten it!
Just stop mulitlating the genitals of newborn infant males!
What part of this do most people not understand?
Crocker

Good point Norm. There is NO MEDICAL NEED for this procedure.

Mandy

To the moderator, it appears that Moily has removed her comment. As an RN(Ret), I worked for almost 20 year at a fully accredited, 1600 bed psychiatric hospital. The patient were diagnosed with a variety of illnesses ranging from depression bi-polar disorder, psychopath(sociopath) to NGRI (Not guilty by reason of insanity). You learn by what people say, act etc what their likely diagnosis is. I didn’t pull the word out of thin air.It was from 39 years in the nursing profession. For someone to be so insolent concerning the death of a young child, it definitely makes you wonder. How much more heartless could a person be?
pjh

I don’t believe age is a factor. Decades ago, it wasn’t that unusual to have it done when older. My ex-husband’s was done when he was ten, which I thought was just cruel, none the less, he survived.
Marge Gunderson

Everyone has already pointed out that it’s much more likely to be a mistake on the hospital’s side than the boy’s age, and that we have no way of knowing why his parents wanted or needed it done at this age.

But to the shortsighted that say the boy’s age is the primary factor, even that would be more on the side of hospital’s trained professionals with decades of experience and thousands of previous cases.

Not parents who are only trying to do what’s best for their children and don’t necessarily have advanced medical training!

Thoughts and condolences to the family and friends, and may you be strong for each other even when you understandably feel like lashing out at anyone in range.
Just Sad

Although I’m not sure why they waited until he was this old, we had our son done shortly after birth, I’m sadden by the lost that this family has endured. I hope that in the end the hospital is found responsible. For words to the family, I can not express any because I don’t know how it feels to lose a child. I’d be devastated if my son had died, I’d be enraged and probably end up on the front page of a news media somewhere.

For the idiots out there, I can see if this was a stupid people type of story, but this involves a child, have respect.

Junky Man

Age had NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS DEATH!
Sheesh, read the article. Its headline is intentionally misleading. The boy did not die from the operation, he died from the anesthetic they used.

Kirsten

An anesthetic he wouldn’t have had, had his parents not forced an unnecessary medical procedure on him. Fact.

kanekahiau

why dont you try admitting that as a doctor…you are ONLY PRACTICING medicine…many doctors that i know think they’re God……
Andrea kirkland

My son who is in his mid twenty’s now had to have it done when he was 4 for medical reasons so please don’t judge. As a side note maybe it took the parents this long to save up to have it done…. Whatever the reason my thoughts and prayers are with the family and the doctors who also will have this burden to carry.

Emily

we want you to have the CHOICE to mind your own business. as it stands now YOU dont make this choice on your own.
Mom in TX

Our son had his done as a one year old. He was born prematurely and had edema, so it couldn’t be done at birth. We still chose to do it, because he had a hole in the foreskin that would have been susceptible to infections. Anyway, they used general anesthesia on him. They said that after a certain age, they had to use the general rather than local. As Andrea said, there are many reasons for having it done at an older age. My thoughts and prayers to the family.

Luek

@ Mom in TX
Why did you have it done at all?
It is a stupid and debunked medical procedure.
Just stop multilating the genitals of newborn males!
kiley

@Luek- she JUST stated why she had it done.
Maybe you should learn to read?

I fail to see how you all have strayed so far into these dumb debates. A little boy passed away, and that is that. Nothing can be undone. His parents chose to have his foreskin removed, just as many have and many will continue to do to their children.
My boyfriend had his done when he was a baby, and he is thankful his mom and dad chose that so he didn’t have to do it later- and he said he WOULD have done it. It is a choice- a choice with risks, like any other choice in life. Quit attacking the families that choose this route, as it is their decision.

I am so sorry for the loss of this little boy- his family is no doubt going through one of the worst pains a parent can ever experience. Hopefully he went quick with little to no pain. RIP little guy

CRC

What a stupid statement! You’re an idiot. Unnecessary or not is irrelveant when negligence on the part of the hospital is the REAL cause.

Hugh Intactive

If something is unnecessary, it does not have to be done. Not doing it would have prevented all of this.

Johnny Handsome

Sad. Very sad.
MRS. I. UNDERSTAND

To whoever viewed this comment..I APOLOGIZE for my lack of control and choice of words when I viewed his comment..Some people utilize this forum as an avenue to unloose their stupidity..I should never have stooped to his level.
aimee

May god bless you in your time of sorrow
And now…

Doctors complain that their malpractice insurance is too costly and the GOP wants to implement settlement limits on malpractice cases. Is their really a price to be put on the life of a child? Do we now understand why the insurance is so costly? The Healthcare reform act maintains your legal right to sue. Wouldn’t you?

Sean

Yeah, about the healthcare reform act protecting “our” legal right to sue.

In fact, healthcare reform penalizes states that dare “limit attorneys’ fees or impose caps on damages.”

Howard Dean explained: Democrats don’t want “to take on the trial lawyers.”

There is a reason Trial Attorneys support the D party.

Think about it…

In a tragic case as this, you may award the parents 100 mil, the attorney gets 33and-a-third percent OR 40-percent (depending on settlement or trial).

Are you saying that you would object to capping the attorneys’ fees a little lower?

Or they deserve to receive 33 to 40mil?

And where would that money come from? Either Insurance premiums or tax dollars. One or both of those, depending on who’s got the “deeper pockets.”

What exactly do trial attorneys DO to receive that sum? We know what the families’ endure to get 60 to 65% of the award.

What do the trial attorneys endure?

Reading, sitting at a table, negotiating, asking questions of people for a few days or weeks? Maybe months?

Not to pick on anyone in particular, but John Edwards won massive awards, and then decried the insurance companies for having sky-high premiums.

Who paid him HIS 60 mil net worth? We all did.

Here in Florida, one plaintiff attorney had chandeliers OUTDOORS in his law firm parking lot. He later sued the state government for additional fees he said the state owed him from their tobacco verdicts. (The amount we owed him in ‘commissions’? A billion with a b.)

At what point, specifically, do you perceive the trial attorneys as profiting excessively? And what is the just way to reign that excess in?

Liberals and democrats are fast to call businesspeople greedy.

What about the Trial attorneys who profit tens of millions
from a family’s suffering, or a child’s awful death?

Bryan

Sean — your comment is really uninformed and ludicrous. Yes, even down right stupid! Your trying to draw lines from point A to point B…..but somehow you skipped straight to point Z. Stop being brainwashed and actually form an opinion for yourself….instead of regurgitating propaganda from the right. Moron!
george

I think WE ALL may be a little brainwashed Bryan but of course you wouldn’t see that as a good “open minded” democrat would you?
Robert

Like I’ve always observed! democrats cannot “see” the future. They argue about what is there now but cannot foresee the ramifications of their decisions to the detriment of our nation. This is why there should be much less democratic leaders elected. To prove my point, once you challenge these democrats or liberals, they will engage to name calling you because there is really nothing up there just like Obama and others who uses race as a protective barrier. The media further protects them by repeating their lies making people think they are the right ones to the downfall of this nation as they make heroes of democrats and monsters of republicans who have better foresights only because they were made that way. Recent studies prove republicans do have higher IQs than democrats.
Sean

Bryan, I did form an opinion and I stated it without any name-calling.

My opinion came from my observations as a trial consultant.

I used to do jury research, jury selection and witness prep.

Research: We did mock trials and then watched/videotaped the deliberation behind a two-way mirror. Why? To hone the argument to squeeze the biggest possible award out of the jury.

Jury Selection: During voir dire I helped attorneys find the more sympathetic jurors. (Sympathy = dollars. By the way, men were consistently more sympathetic than women, which always surprised me.)

For witness prep: I helped the plaintiff generate an emotional response in the jury.

Argue all you’d like (preferably without name-calling, if you’d be so kind), but if you’re going to sit at your computer and think that trial attorneys are not at all like the greedy businesspeople democrats love to excoriate, then I would sincerely and respectfully invite you to hang out more with trial attorneys.

trt50

For anyone of any age, about to have surgery, the anestesiologist if THE most important person in the operating room. Their job is to take complete control of
your vitals, xygen intake, heart rate, etc and they must control the dosage of very powerful medications, and it only take a very small amount to kill or disable a patient for life. When possible, always op for local anesthesia. You will heal faster too. My heart goes out to this family. Please sue, no excuse for this to happen.
Paul

I’m saying a prayer for the child and the family.
May the grace of God be with you at this time.
S. Smith

We are told the child was almost 2 years not two months. We are not told the reason his folks waited so long. That is not the point. To bring that up judgementally is just based on speculation. This scenario calls only for a sharing of grief with hurting people like ourselves.
The rude comment above is just made by someone who is not able to express their reaction to horrible situations in a caring way. To be upset iis normal. To be so deplorably lacking in communication skills of proper vocabulary while being computer literate is very unfortunate indeed. That person also is in need of our pity.
DM

That is completely inconsiderate, rude and cruel Please remove your remark. It is offensive.
MRS. I. UNDERSTAND

My thoughts and prayers are with the mother and father. As a mother of 5, my youngest will be 2yrs old next month, I’m deeply saddened by their lost. No parent should lose a child reagrdless of what age.
May his young soul rest in peace.
Sylvia Gonzalez

It’s devastating! To lose a precious 2 yr. old over what is supposed to be a common safe surgical procedure is heart rending. My heart goes out to the parents and family of this angel. May God give you the grace to ease the pain and may you have the strength to face this difficult period of in your life. The result of a thorough investigation should be made public so this tragedy should never happen again.
Ana

i”m so very sorry!!! I”m a mother of three and i don”t know what i would do if anything was to happen to my children. Make sure you get an answer and don”t settle for any bulls____!

Sincerely,
A mother too!!!
Ginger Rogue

Why were they performing this on a 2 yr old?
Ma

2 years old?? That’s cruel.

Elliott Lanosa

The baby was 2 Months old. Something went terribly wrong and now the parents have a deceased child and the Hospital/Doctor who performed this very minor surgery have to answer to their “mistake”.

Jacq

Read the story again. The baby was 2 years old.

melissa

I ave a nephew who ended needing one when he was 2 years old. My dh needed one as an adult. Sometimes even when you keep the area clean as possible and pull the skin back to wash infections happen.

Hugh Intactive

Pulling the skin back before it is ready CAUSES infections. Girls also get infections (more than boys) but we don’t think about cutting parts off them.

Marie

Some what ignorant are we?

Kim

My deepest simpathy and condolences to the family.
Leticia T.

My prayers to you and your family … May God and the Virgin Mary bring to you peace , strength and serenity in this time of difficulty… My deepest condolences….
Marina Ios

this is sad, the poor kid, God rest his soul in peace
the truth is that mistakes can happen anywhere, in any hospital
i give my example: i went to beth israel medical center hospital in nyc, when i had a total heart block and i needed a pacemaker, this was back in 2002, i got the pacemaker, lots of follow ups, everything went fine for 7 years, then i changed it with the second pacemaker at another hospital, in queens, being more convenient to where i live. i had a bad experience and i regreted that i did not return to BIMC
my opinion is that situation is isolated, unfortunate and really sad things can happen in any hospital
my deepest sympathies to the family
Watchful Patient NYC

Beth Israel Medical Center NY kind of scares me with anything
other than a blood pressure test,sad but true.
A friend of mine was almost killed by a BIMC nurse putting in
too much morphine into her pain pump system ,she sued BIMC
and got s settlement.She almost died and was in a coma.
The nurse did not care to read the dosage listing for this ambulatory
out patient.