Because circumcision is medically unnecessary, the British Columbia Health Insurance Plan stopped paying for infant circumcisions more than a decade ago. The Canadian Medical Association adopted a new code of ethics in August 1996. This new code has 43 provisions. Among those provisions are requirements that doctors consider first the well being of the patient, not exploit patients for personal advantage, to recommend only beneficial therapeutic procedures, to balance the rights of children and families, to avoid promoting services for personal gain, to refuse to participate in or support practices that violate basic human rights, and to recognize the responsibilty to self regulation of the profession. Canada is a state-party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Circumcision is a procedure rife with complications.
It destroys healthy, functional, erogenous tissue. Pain management is not the main issue that must be dealt with when it comes to infant circumcision. These physicians justified circumcision on the basis of a preposterous series of benefits, including prevention of rheumatism and blindness. We now know that not only does circumcision offer little or no medical benefit, but it also destroys a male infant s primary erogenous zone and subjects him to unnecessary surgical risk. Anesthesia does not solve the problem.