Liability to penalty for circumcision in boys. Medico-legal aspects of a controversial medical intervention

Surgeons and urologists (usually pediatric) are often confronted with the request to perform circumcision on a boy from parents or guardians in the absence of a medical indication. This review highlights the importance of refraining from such procedures to avoid being the possible addressee of a civil law claim or even being accused in a lawsuit a some later point. The attending physician who performs a circumcision without medical indication on a minor male incurs a penalty according to 223 para. 1 of the German Criminal Code, even in the case where the parent or guardian of the child has signed the informed consent to that procedure. In the absence of power of approval over the compromised legally protected interest of the child (physical inviolacy), the consent is invalid. The present article discusses not only the current German legal status, but also examines in depth the arguments often put forward to support the legitimacy of male circumcision (treatment of phimosis, disease prevention, religion).