Baby circumcised against mom's wishes

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SOUTH MIAMI, Fla., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A Florida woman is suing a hospital for assault and battery on her newborn because the baby was circumcised by mistake, the woman's lawyer said.

The mother, Vera Delgado, went home briefly to take a shower and came back to find her son, Mario Viera, circumcised against what Delgado's lawyer said were explicit instructions not to have the procedure performed, ABC.com reported Tuesday.

Delgado, 30, is asking for $1 million for the "deformity" caused by the procedure, court records showed.

"This is not medical malpractice. We are suing for battery, an unauthorized assault on this baby. They took a knife to him without his parent's permission," said Delgado's lawyer, Spencer Aronfeld. "The baby was in neonatal intensive care with complications from a birth-related infection. They took the baby out and amputated healthy tissue from the penis in an irreversible procedure."

Bethany Rundell, marketing manager for South Miami Hospital, said hospital officials "are deeply sorry that this happened."

"It was essentially a mistake and we admitted it to the family and worked with them, as well as ourselves, to come up with procedures that prevent this from happening again," Rundell said.

Aronfeld said he has received countless supportive e-mail messages since his announcement that Delgado would sue.

The Stop the Infant Circumcision Society, a group whose motto is "The foreskin is not a birth defect," said it will hold a demonstration at the hospital Friday.