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GMC issues guidelines on circumcision
Linda Beecham, BMJThe General Medical Council has approved clinical guidelines for the circumcision of male children for religious or medical reasons, after complaints about the standards of care provided.
Many doctors and members of the public feel that male circumcision for religious or cultural reasons is unethical because it entails a surgical technique, without the consent of the patient, which has little or no therapeutic value. But the GMC's standards committee chairman, Professor Sir Cyril Chantler, told the GMC last week that, unlike female circumcision, male circumcision was legal and the question about whether it was ethical was not a medical question. This had to be decided by society and not by doctors. If doctors could not carry out the procedure parents would turn to people who lacked the skills to perform the procedure competently.
The GMC advises those doctors who decide to circumcise a male child that they
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