KEM Health complaint alleges an obstetrician’s circumcision error before a newborn’s partial glans amputation
The complaint alleges that an obstetrician-gynecologist performed a circumcision on a newborn using a Mogen clamp. The procedure caused a partial amputation of the distal glans that involved the urethral opening. She advanced too much penile shaft skin into the clamp, removing an excessive amount of skin. This later caused a bend in the penis known as chordee. The newborn was flown to a children’s hospital, where surgeons reattached the amputated glans tissue. He later required surgical correction and a skin graft for the chordee, and his scarring may require further surgery.
Overview
This page concerns a public complaint alleging that an obstetrician-gynecologist’s circumcision technique amputated part of a newborn’s glans. He required emergency reattachment surgery at a children’s hospital.
Chronology
The complaint alleges as follows:
- In May 2023, an obstetrician-gynecologist performed a circumcision on the newborn with a Mogen clamp and administered sucrose and lidocaine injections.
- She attempted to free adhesions, then cut away the foreskin with a scalpel. Significant bleeding followed, and she documented a partial amputation of the distal glans involving the urethral opening.
- The newborn was flown by emergency helicopter from Emory University Hospital to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for an urgent urology evaluation.
- Urologists there found the circumcision line had separated and the glans was partially amputated by about 2 to 3 millimeters.
- In the operating room, a urologist reattached the separated portion of the glans, irrigated and aligned the tissue, and placed a catheter.
- He also lost skin from the underside and left side of his penile shaft, causing chordee that needed surgery and a graft.
Alleged failures
The complaint alleges the following failures:
- The obstetrician-gynecologist advanced too much penile shaft skin into the clamp before closing it, removing an excessive amount of skin from the shaft.
- This left the newborn with a denuded penile shaft that healed into a left ventrolateral chordee requiring surgical correction and a skin graft.
- The complaint alleges her circumcision technique fell beneath the standard of care applicable to her under the circumstances.
- The complaint pleads professional and ordinary negligence against the obstetrician-gynecologist, vicarious liability against her practice, and the parents’ individual claims. It attaches expert affidavits under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1.