April 23, 2015 — The parents of a boy whose penis was partially amputated by a Mogen Clamp during a botched circumcision has filed a lawsuit (PDF) against several companies that sell the device.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a boy who was born in March 2010. One week after his birth, he underwent a circumcision procedure that amputated the tip of his penis. The boy was permanently injured, will require future corrective surgery, and will continue to experience significant complications.
The civil lawsuit was filed yesterday in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas against three Pennsylvania-based companies that sell the Mogen Clamp, including Misdom-Frank Corporation, Sklar Corporation, and Medco Inc.
What is the problem?
Unlike other circumcision devices, the Mogen Clamp has two major design flaws:
- The head of the penis is not protected by a shield or bell
- The doctor cannot see the head of the penis when cutting the foreskin with a scalpel.
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that the manufacturers of this device knew about its serious risks, but failed to issue warnings, recalls, or update the design:
“The Mogen Clamp, unlike other circumcision devices, has a long history of penile amputations. In fact, though the Mogen Clamp comprises a small percentage of the circumcision market, it accounts for the majority of penile amputations.”
$11 Million Awarded in Mogen Clamp Lawsuit
Several other lawsuits involving the Mogen Clamp have ended in multi-million dollar jury verdicts. In 2007, Mogen Circumcision Instruments of New York was ordered to pay $7.5 million by a jury in Massachusetts.
While the company was already in default for not paying the judgement, another judge ordered the company to pay $11 million on behalf of a boy who lost the entire head (glans) of his penis in the Mogen Clamp in 2010, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
FDA Warning for Botched Circimcusion
In August 2000, the FDA issued the following Safety Communication:
“The clamp may allow too much tissue to be drawn through the opening of the device, thus facilitating the removal of an excessive amount of foreskin and in some cases, a portion of the glans penis. … We received 105 reports of injuries involving circumcision clamps between July 1996 and January 2000. These have included laceration, hemorrhage, penile amputation, and urethral damage.”
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