Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Parents Sue After Son's Penis is Amputated by Mistake - Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The family of an infant boy whose penis was severed during a circumcision filed a lawsuit in July 2007 claiming a doctor and the hospital were negligent. The Chicago lawsuit alleges that due to negligence, Dr. Sherif Malek severed the entire glans, commonly called the "head" of the penis during a routine circumcision the day after his birth on February 14, 2007.

At the completion of the procedure, hospital records indicated that significant bleeding occurred, and upon inspection, nearly all of the glans had been amputated at the time of the circumcision. Three months later, the little boy required penile skin transfer surgery and will need future procedures, some of which are only appropriate at the time of puberty.

According to an expert witness from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the clamp used in the procedure cannot amputate a male infant's glans when it is used properly and the injury to the infant was completely preventable.

Medical malpractice caps in Illinois will prevent the boy from recovering more than $500,000 against the physician, and the hospital's liability is capped at $1 million.

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