City's right on rite
The city's attempts to call attention to a potentially lethal circumcision rite is being couched by some ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders as an infringement on their religious freedom. It is not. Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden is merely fulfilling his obligation to the people of the city by educating new parents about an extremely rare but possibly deadly complication from the ritual.
The procedure, called metzitzah b'peh, involves using the mouth to suck blood from the open wound after a boy is circumcised on the eighth day of life. Most mohels - those who perform circumcisions - use gauze or other means of cleaning the cut. But some Hasidim consider metzitzah b'peh essential. The number of those circumcisions is small - 2,000 to 4,000 a year. The risk is even smaller, but in rare cases, the procedure transmits disease. And it can be fatal.
In 2004, three babies in the city were found to be infected with herpes after undergoing the ritual. All became very sick, and one died. That mohel agreed to stop doing metzitzah b'peh. But after two more cases were reported last year, including one in which the baby suffered brain damage, the Health Department rightly stepped in.
Many parents don't know of the risk; many mohels don't know it themselves. So Frieden began an education campaign through the Jewish media and hospitals, advising parents to find out if a mohel intends to perform metzitzah b'peh and to decide for themselves if they prefer to find another.
Some Hasidic leaders are furious at what they see as government interference in a religious ritual. They want Frieden to mind his own business. Well, this is his business. He is not trying to ban the procedure; he wants to make sure parents are aware of the problem. And he is within his rights to act if mohels who know they are infected continue to spread disease.
No one wants to hurt babies. Not the parents, not Frieden and certainly not the mohels. All must work together to keep infants safe.
