An intact (uncircumcised) infant and his parents have sued Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Inc. for the alleged forced retraction of his foreskin while undergoing urinary catheterization. According to the Complaint filed on January 10, 2018 in the State Court of Fulton County, Georgia, Civil Action File No. 18EV000194, Leon Jude Parks, a non-circumcised 1 and 3/4 month old male, was taken by his mother Cassie N. Parks to the Emergency Room of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite in Atlanta, Georgia on February 5, 2016 with a complaint of vomiting. The Complaint contends that, as is the case with virtually all intact infant males, his foreskin was attached to the head of his penis and could not be pulled back. It alleges that the attending ER doctor ordered that blood and urine samples be drawn, that two nurses came to perform the procedures, and that one of those took off Jude’s diaper in order to insert a urinary catheter to obtain the urine sample. It further alleges that without asking permission to do so and without warning, the nurse forcibly tore and retracted his foreskin all the way back off of the head of the penis, which caused the penis to become bloody and caused Jude to experience severe physical and mental pain and suffering. In addition, it claims that when Mrs. Parks protested that the nurse was not supposed to forcibly retract the foreskin, she insisted that Mrs. Parks should be retracting the foreskin at every diaper change and engaged in an argument with her that caused Mrs. Parks to leave the room in distress and that thereafter a nurse supervisor argued with Mrs. Parks and insisted that such forced retraction of the foreskin was hospital “protocol,” that this was done in every case, that the nurse had done nothing wrong, and that leaving Jude uncircumcised left him open for infection, all of which assertions inflicted emotional distress upon Mrs. Parks.
The Complaint alleges, among other things, that the nurse committed a battery upon Jude, that she committed nursing malpractice because it is never necessary or appropriate to tear the foreskin from the head of the penis to insert a catheter, that the nurse and the nurse supervisor intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon Mrs. Parks, and that Children’s negligently failed to protect Jude from the negligence of the nurse. The claim of nursing malpractice is supported by an Affidavit of Sylvia Joy Zakusilov, R.N., an ER nurse from Indiana.
According to David J. Llewellyn, the Parks’ attorney, he believes the medical literature for at least 67 years has supported the contention that no one should ever forcibly retract the foreskin of an infant boy. “In my opinion the only one who ever needs to retract the foreskin is the boy himself,” he said. The Complaint has attached to it numerous medical articles and statements that he contends confirm that the foreskin is usually attached to the head (glans) at birth and that the connections between it and the glans dissolve over a variable period of years. He added, “It seems to me that the overwhelming body of medical literature supports the fact that it is not until late elementary school age that most boys can retract their foreskins. I believe that competent physicians and nurses know these facts. Publications of the American Academy of Pediatrics have stated numerous times that boys’ foreskins should never be forcibly retracted and that doing so can cause severe pain, bleeding, and tears in the skin. No boy should have to suffer like we allege Jude has suffered at the hands of medical professionals, nor should any mother be criticized for leaving a boy’s penis in its natural state, as we allege happened here.”