Circumcision Error

A doctor who was accused of botching the circumcision of a Muslim baby has admitted he was concerned about the infant's age before undertaking the operation.

Dr Anthonipillai Nicholas-Pillai appeared before a General Medical Council panel to deny charges of unprofessional conduct after leaving the four-and-a-half-month-old infant with "two-tone" coloured genitals and in need of corrective surgery.

The baby's parents, who are of Somalian origin, took the baby and his brother, then six, to Bush Hill Park medical centre in Enfield to have the operation conducted privately in April 2001.

Dr Nicholas-Pillai said: "I was concerned because of the age and it being in nappies."

However, the doctor told the panel that he had performed the operation on boys of a similar age and said he had desensitised the baby's skin before the circumcision using medicine, anaesthetic cream and an injection.

Dr Nicholas-Pillai denied accusations from the baby's parents that he had gone ahead with the procedure before allowing the injection to take effect, and refuted their claims that the child was crying excessively.

He said: "In that case I would not have fulfilled the circumcision."

The Bangalore-trained doctor denies charges of removing excessive external skin and insufficient inner skin from the baby's penis.

Dr Nicholas-Pillai said he took the infant's age into account when deciding how best to carry out the procedure.

The panel heard that while the boy's penis is two-tone in colour its function is now normal. The hearing continues.

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