FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Marilyn Milos, 1-415-488-9883

Physician and Hospital Motion to Dismiss Circumcision Case Denied
Precedent Set for Men to Sue For Being Circumcised as Infants

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NEW YORK - Judge Leonard Wexler, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, denied last week the Defendants' Motions to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim in the precedent-setting case of William Stowell, a 19-year-old who filed a civil suit against the physician that circumcised him as a newborn and the hospital where he was circumcised.

Plaintiff William G. Stowell, born on December 22, 1981, at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, NY, was circumcised the following day by his mother's obstetrician, Frank P. Cariello, MD. This landmark case brings into question whether a physician can legally obtain consent from a mother while she is debilitated by post-surgical pain and anesthesia, and also raises issues regarding removal of healthy, normal tissue from a non-consenting minor for non-therapeutic reasons. Depending upon the facts of the case and the jurisdiction, a male who was circumcised as an infant may be able to file a lawsuit of this type within 1, 2, or 3 years of reaching the age of majority, the time depending upon the law of the state in which he was circumcised.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) first acknowledged that there is no medical justification for routine circumcision in 1971. Last year, the AAP reaffirmed its policy that does not recommend routine circumcision. The American Medical Association recently concurred, calling routine circumcision "non-therapeutic." No national or international medical organization recommends routine circumcision.

The case received national attention earlier this year, after Mr. Stowell filed a civil lawsuit against his doctor and hospital on December 19, 2000. The Stowell case has been featured on Good Morning America, and in Newsweek, The New York Post, and numerous other radio talk show programs and news articles.

Mr. Stowell is represented by John L. Juliano of East Northport, NY, and David J. Llewellyn of Conyers, Georgia. Mr. Llewellyn, who regularly represents the victims of circumcision throughout the country, can be reached at 1-770-918-1911.