- Melbourne GP bans circumcisions
- Two young people were injured by mistake
- You want to continue doing them in your business.
A leading Melbourne circumcision doctor has been banned from performing the operation after he mistakenly amputated the penises of two young boys.
Dr Hershel Goldman’s license was restricted by the Medical Board of Australia on April 4, preventing him from performing the procedure he has performed more than 20,000 times.
He is fighting the ban at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), which heard on Thursday that one child was so seriously injured he required a blood transfusion and the other is potentially permanently disfigured, he reports. The Herald of the Sun.
The board allows Dr Goldman to continue working as a GP but remains firm in banning him from performing the operation in which he specializes.
He has agreed not to perform circumcisions in religious ceremonies in people’s homes, where the two incidents occurred, but wants to be allowed to perform them at his business, the Melbourne Circumcision Center in Noble Park and Cairnlea.
Dr Hershel Goldman is appealing a ban preventing him from performing circumcisions after a “serious error” led to the amputation of two boys’ penises.
VCAT heard in one of the incidents that those attending the ceremony, some of whom were doctors, intervened to help the child after a “major complication”.
In the second incident it is alleged that Dr. Goldman did not realize that he had amputated the boy’s penis.
Later, his parents were changing the boy’s diaper when they noticed something was wrong and went to the hospital where the boy needed a blood transfusion.
Dr. Goldman’s lawyer told the court that he had only amputated the tip of the second boy’s penis; However, the boy’s mother wrote to the court claiming that he had been “amputated at the base.”
The two young men were seriously injured as a result of the botched procedure (file image)
Attorney James Stoller said the botched operations weigh heavily on Dr. Goldman and that he is so aware of the mistakes that he is “not likely to repeat them.”
He said Dr. Goldman would be financially ruined if he could not continue his business, which he has been building for decades.
Medical Board of Australia lawyer Ben Jellis argued that “money is money” but a patient’s injuries would be lifelong.
“One (of these cases) was a life-threatening complication regarding blood transfusion, the other also required emergency surgery, with possible lifelong disfigurement,” he said.
“We are dealing with the practitioner as he is now, rather than as he was or has been.”
A full VCAT hearing will take place later this year.
On Thursday, senior member Ian Proctor reserved his decision on whether to maintain the ban in the meantime.
