Despite the fact that no medical or health organization in the world recommends infant circumcision, it is not advised by the AAP, AAFP, or any other pediatric society, and it is considered "cosmetic" surgical amputation and therefore not covered by insurance or Medicaid in many states, Pediatrics in Brevard (Florida) offers a special deal... For just $250 staff will cut off a part of your son's penis for you (and spare you the criminal charges you would face if you cut him yourself as Keemonta Peterson did last October). Ignoring the need to fully inform parents of the many functions of the foreskin, and the benefits of keeping children whole and intact as they come into this world, Pediatrics in Brevard banks on the lowest rate we've seen across the nation to strap, restrain, slice and dice newborn babies. And this is America?
Pediatrics in Brevard website: http://www.pedsinbrevard.com/
This sign is hanging by the scheduling desk at the 1755 W. Hibiscus Blvd. clinic in Melbourne,
FL 32901. Phone: 321.724.5437
For additional information on the prepuce organ ("foreskin"), intact care, and circumcision see: Are You Fully Informed?
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$250 to permanently amputate a part of your son's penis. Unreal. I'd stick an intact info card up there by the thumbtack while in the office...
ReplyDeleteWhen my oldest was born his (then) pediatrician offered to throw in the optional local anesthesia for free. Yes, you read that right...optional anesthesia. The recovery pain is bad enough, but so many cheap/broke parents would skip the cost of the anesthesia that the ped. started offering it for free if he thought it would sell the circumcision.
ReplyDeleteOoOoOo what a deal... lemme make the drive to get my child hacked up!!! {sarcasm, combined with sadness and nausea}
ReplyDeleteI hope this doesn't come off as awful but... if you're on medicaid, should you really be spending 250.00 to get your sons penis cut? =\
ReplyDeleteIt just makes me sick to my stomach.
ReplyDeleteThey'll have to take it up with my boy--he has to pay for his own tattoos, piercings, and other nontherapeutic body mod around here.
ReplyDeleteThis sign is in every peds/OB office in the country that performs circs since Medicaid cut funding. I'm obviously against circs and very happy that Medicaid is no longer paying for them, but patients still want the procedure, even with actual informed consent. At the clinic I am currently doing midwifery clinicals with, the price is $207.
ReplyDeleteI was a patient of Peds in Brevard for 18 years, and received stellar care there, which is the only reason I am playing devil's advocate here.
I think it's awesome that now it's not covered. Now some parents will leave their child intact for the fact that they can't afford it!
ReplyDeleteStephanie: People sure will though... sad, really sad.
ReplyDeleteDon't people stop and think WHY Medicaid doesn't cover it?? Maybe because it's unnecessary cosmetic surgery! ugh!
ReplyDeletewhat a steal. literally. :/
ReplyDeleteWouldn't this be considered advertising it as a service? It's clearly posted, along with a price and how they'll take payment, for a surgery that is against the AAP's recommendation which many of them are connected to.
ReplyDeleteThis would be our Pediatrician's office. *Sigh*
ReplyDeleteExactly, Grace! They should disclose that, too. "Medicaid does not cover RIC because it's completely ****ing unnecessary oh and by the way it's even more ****ing unethical for us to solicit for it."
ReplyDeletewow that's cheap for a SURGERY when most surgeries costs thousands... must be selling the skin to make some $$ sick sick sick
ReplyDeleteIf I saw this hanging somewhere I would rip it into shreds and throw it away.
ReplyDeleteWhat a deal! only $250 to perform an unnecessary, cosmetic surgery on a non-consenting infant. What an affordable conscience that doctor has.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the money part will be enough of a deterrent OR the parent(s) get educated and decide to do right by the son, eventually it will be banned, I feel confident in this.
ReplyDeleteThey don't say how much it will cost to correct the surgical mistakes, deal with adhesions, etc., and for his future restoration and therapy and Viagra and etc etc etc
ReplyDeleteStephanie, you said what I was thinking. I wonder what bills a person would skip to get the $250 to mutilate their kid with.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a bargain! Think how many cloth diapers you could buy with that 250 dollars and have a happy, healthy, NORMAL baby.
ReplyDeletelets not blame the 'uninformed' parents. because i know the medical system is still feeding them mis info and they actually think they are doing right for their child. of curse they have something to gain ($)
ReplyDeleteShannon, I think you are right. The ONLY reason my first son had it done was because of my ignorance. So, it really is about ppl not being informed, or believing everything their drs say. The drs can make money on it, so they will sell it. My husband almost ended up with two unnecessary wrist surgeries because of a surgeon that tried to sell him on "carpal tunnel syndrome" and because his dad (might) have had it and had surgery for it, his numbness and tingling must have been CT. Well, someone said, "STOP, GO TO CHIRO" and after 3 adjustments (and the 1st really did the most good) he was PERFECTLY healthy again! Surgeons need to sell their craft.
ReplyDeleteYay! Do they amputate clitoral hoods too? Anesthesia doesn't come with the deal, but... whatever, I can just take a roofie first. As long as I don't remember it, it doesn't matter! ♥
ReplyDeletei wonder if they do card punches too...after 10 hack jobs get one free...what a deal.
ReplyDeleteNo, it isn't the cheapest I've seen. I live in Bradford county in Florida, and out pediatrician is in the next county over, Putnam. This Nurse/Midwife facility circumcises for $170!! I asked because my sister is going to circ her son (and she won't let me talk to her about it! I don't know what to do!) I'm sooooo disappointed that a nurse/midwife operation would conduct such an atrocity.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if, as Medicaid stops paying for MGM in more and more states, more offices will pop up offering special deals (for cheap) to cut babies just so people still do it and they can still reap the benefits of a $200 surgery charge and the big $$$ that comes from the sale of the foreskin? With how much they sell for (Skin Medica, cosmetics, burn units, skin grafting companies, research) taking a few hundred off the amputation itself won't hurt the income for the clinic if they are getting more clients, more foreskins, that can then be sold for profit.
ReplyDeleteI'll be totally honest. If my midwife hadn't told me that Medicaid didn't cover a circumcision, I wouldn't have stopped to ask why. I was always told it was clean, healthy, etc, and made that mistake with my first son. Because Medicaid does not cover them anymore and because there are signs in the pediatric office, it helped prevent my second son from being circumcised. In my opinion, it's a good thing. I just wish that there was an explanation on the sign as to WHY there is no coverage for that procedure. :(
ReplyDeleteLet's start removing people's eyelids...I mean, they're just a piece of skin, your eyeballs can get dirty with that flap holding stuff there...Insanity!
ReplyDeleteGee, How nice of these doctors to offer a Medicaid parent a circ for $250.
ReplyDeleteIllinois Medicaid only pays about $200 for a circ. I wonder how much Florida Medicaid used
to pay. It would seem to me that these "doctors" are probably glad that Medicaid quit paying so that they can get even more money by bullying parents into coming up with the money themselves for this "necessary" surgery that the mean old state will no longer pay for.
The fact that Medicaid no longer covers it just goes to show that it is COMPLETELY unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteI wish I wasn't so ignorant of the facts when my son was circumcised - and we live in Brevard County, FL. The people who have said "I would put an info card on that" - if I would have seen that, my son's foreskin would have been saved. I know so much now, I regret what we allowed to happen. I will drop by that office and put an info card up over that stupid sign.
ReplyDeletePediatrics in Brevard (Dr.Knappenberger) circumcised our first son and did such a botched up job that we had to take him to the Emergency Room and he is now scarred for life (physically and emotionally). Because we had such a horrible experience with Pediatrics in Brevard we have decided not to circumcise our other children. I wish I would have done my research first!!
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