Circumcision as Child Abuse: The Legal and Constitutional Issues
W Brigman, 23 J. Fam. L. 337 (1984-1985)
"This paper will examine the medical and psychological case against routine neonatal circumcision and will discuss the potential legal and constitutional barriers to treating the practice as child abuse."
"Suits for damages against surgeons, hospitals, and conceivably parents, are possible because 'malice in the sense of ill will or a desire to cause injury is not essential to sustain a recovery for intentional wrongdoing. It is enough for the plaintiff to show that the defendant knowingly and intentionally did the act which caused the damage and that damage was substantially certain to follow.' "
"The limitation posed by suits for negligence in this area is the same as that in the criminal law: negligence, like crime, is grounded in societally determined assumptions and expectations. Additionally, in the case of civil suits for circumcision, especially those cases without adverse medical complications, it will be difficult to establish damages other than pain and suffering. As a result, suits for damages are not likely to be numerous or very fruitful."
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