- Melbourne GPs are not allowed to perform circumcisions
- Two young boys were accidentally injured
- He wants to continue implementing them in his company
A leading Melbourne circumcision doctor has been banned from performing the operation after accidentally amputating the penises of two young boys.
Dr Hershel Goldman had his license restricted by the Medical Council of Australia on April 4, preventing him from performing the procedure he has performed more than 20,000 times.
He is challenging the ban at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), which heard on Thursday that one child was injured so seriously that a blood transfusion was required and the other may be permanently disfigured, reports The Herald Sun.
The board allows Dr. Goldman to continue working as a general practitioner, but maintains its position that he is not allowed to perform the surgery in which he specializes.
He has agreed not to perform circumcisions during 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 appeals ban on him performing circumcisions after ‘serious mistake’ led to two boys’ penises being amputated
In one of the incidents, VCAT heard that those present at the ceremony, some of whom were doctors, intervened to help the child after a ‘significant complication’.
In the second incident, it is alleged that Dr. Goldman did not realize he had amputated the boy’s penis.
His parents were later changing the boy’s diaper when they noticed something was wrong and went to the hospital where the child needed a blood transfusion.
Dr.’s lawyer Goldman told the tribunal that he had only amputated the tip of the second boy’s penis, but the child’s mother wrote to the tribunal that it had been amputated ‘at the base’.
The two young boys were seriously injured as a result of the botched procedures (stock image)
Attorney James Stoller said the botched surgeries weigh heavily on Dr. Goldman and that he is so aware of the mistakes that he is unlikely to repeat them.
He said Dr. Goldman would be financially ruined if he were unable to continue his business, which he has spent decades building.
Medical Board of Australia lawyer Ben Jellis argued that “money is money” but a patient’s injuries would be for life.
“One of these cases was a life-threatening complication related to the blood transfusion, the other was also one that required emergency surgery, with possible lifelong disfigurement,” he said.
‘We are dealing with the practitioner as he is now, and not as he was or has been.’
A full VCAT hearing will take place later this year.
On Thursday, senior member Ian Proctor deliberated his decision on whether to suspend the ban in the meantime.