“First do no harm”: Revoke Certifications of Doctor who support advocate for clitoridectomies (FGM)

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The first and absolute law of the medical profession is Primum non nocere, Latin for "First, do no harm." It is one of the principal precepts of medical ethics that all medical students are taught in medical school.

Cutting the clitoris of a woman is an Islamic precept that removes the ability to experience sexual pleasure (thereby making a woman less apt to cheat, or enjoy life, for that matter). There is absolutely no health benefit. It is a misogyny.

The Mayo Clinic rightly removed Dr. Hatem Elhagaly ("Hatem Al Haj") who called FGM an "honor for women" after Atlas reader/activist CGW started an action petition to get this mutilation supporter removed. But that is not enough. Sign this petition as well.

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Petition to the Board of American Pediatrics

Revoke the Certifications of Hatem Elhagaly

Currently, Elhagaly is attempting to frame this movement in terms of his religion. This petition is solely focused on a doctor whose medical ethics are extremely questionable, and if ever put in practice, felonious–a doctor who should have no certifications in my state. I do not allege that Dr. Elhagaly has committed a felony. I point solely to the text on Elhagaly's website itself, which outlines his views on FGM and do not contradict the statements of this petition.

Elhagaly attempts to justify his medical ethics by pointing to his religion and branding the signers of this petition Islamophobes. It should be clear by the content of this petition that our focus is the genital mutilation of children, not the doctor's religion. Don't be fooled: FGM is not something to be defended. It is a strange, barbaric, and often punitive act inflicted on young girls for the purposes of subjugation and control. Elhagaly, as stated openly on his website, is in favor of female circumcision. No matter how slight the cut, it is considered FGM, and is felony child abuse.

I don't care what any doctor believes. I care what medicine he practices and promotes. And FGM isn't medicine at all.

———-

UPDATE

From the Mayo:

Dr. Elhagaly is no longer employed or caring for patients at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea. We are working with his patients to transition their care to another physician. Because this is a personnel issue, we cannot comment further on Dr. Elhagaly's employment status.

Female circumcision in children, referred to as female genital mutilation in U.S. legal statutes, is a felony-level child abuse crime. Mayo Clinic strongly opposes the procedure and it has never been performed at any Mayo Clinic facility.

————– 

Hatem Elhagaly (AKA "Hatem Al Haj") worked as a doctor in Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Albert Lea, MN. His special interests are in child development.

He is also a proponent of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

In an Arabic-language paper entitled "Circumcision of Girls: Jurisprudence and Medicine" (original here and here), Elhagaly (AKA "Al Haj") repeatedly points to the idea that FGM is "an honor" for women, ignoring FGM's extremely detrimental effects on women's health and the barbarity of the practice. He attempts to justify his ideas by referencing scholars from several schools of Islamic thought and also the words of Muhammad, including the idea that FGM is desirable "because it is more beautiful to behold and better for her husband." 

Hatem Elhagaly was taking care of young girls in Albert Lea, MN. 

Learn more about him at his website.

 

Hatem Elhagaly is already gone from his job at the Mayo Clinic. I now demand that the various medical boards that support him revoke his certifications.

Join with me in voicing your outrage. Together, we can insist that his board certifications in this country be revoked. 

Remember: It doesn't matter how "little" you cut a little girl's vulva. It's still felony child abuse.

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Teresa Rice
Teresa Rice
11 years ago

Religion doesn’t justify wrongs or evil. Religion doesn’t justify murder, bodily mutilation, adultery, or theft. I am sick of a certain religion’s harmful actions being given a pass by dhimmis all in the name of religion.

joy52
joy52
11 years ago

I tried to fill out the information for the petition, but the field disappears when I start typing.

logdon
logdon
11 years ago

He also suggests that it makes the vagina more attractive to men.
I shake my head.
First. That removal of the outer labia, often with a pair of scissors and the excruciating pain involved is justified in the name of male pleasure.
Second. What kind of men are these who can find a mass of scar tissue in any way attractive? It’ll be like a war zone down there, then again war zones do seem to have some kind of sadistic draw for these people.

Sinner Taxophone
Sinner Taxophone
11 years ago

“female genital mutilation in U.S. legal statutes, is a felony-level child abuse crime.”
If they can’t abide by our laws they need to be arrested and deported. No genuine American would ever stand for this insane criminal act.

pat
pat
11 years ago

Islamophobe? How about a Clitoriphobe?

Mama Grizzly
Mama Grizzly
11 years ago

Well, if you go to his website, it seems that this inditement of him is misplaced. He is not seemingly advocating for FGM, but rather against it, substituting a “ritual nick”. He condemns FGM. I hope this wasn’t a mistaken campaign because it looks to me to be maybe a step forward. Substituting a nick for FGM, under the auspices of fulfilling Islamic cultural expectations is a giant improvement and prevents families from taking girls back to their countries of origin to have an actual clitorectomy and worse.
Other opinions?

Renee
Renee
11 years ago

Good thing their are quotes around the term “ritual nick.”. I suggest that anyone who supports this give themselves a “ritual nick ” on their own penis or clitoris and report back on the experience.

CGW
CGW
11 years ago

Mama Grizzly:
Elsewhere on his own website:
“I believe that the part that needs to be removed in female circumcision is that which corresponds to the foreskin in the male, and that is called “the clitoral hood”. It was noticed that the same harmful smegma that accumulates under the foreskin of male infants does accumulate under the clitoral hood of the female.”
http://www.drhatemalhaj.com/qa/index.php/2011/03/26/female-circumcision-2/
Excision or complete removal of the clitoral hood is completely different from the so-called “nick”. This indicates deliberate obfuscation in his current “clarification”.
If you watch the video on the subject on his website, he clearly approves of excision of the clitoral hood to prevent “morbid sexual excitement” ! ! ! Have you or anyone you’ve ever known suffered from morbid sexual excitement?
The BOTTOM LINE is that both procedures are ILLEGAL in the US, and open approval of them constitutes endorsement. Telling people that an illegal practice is acceptable encourages them subtly to break the law if they decide to follow their idea of religious propriety.
Please see the following article for more information on the “nick”:
(CNN) The American Academy of Pediatrics has rescinded a controversial policy statement raising the idea that doctors in some communities should be able to substitute demands for female genital cutting with a harmless clitoral “pricking” procedure.
“We retracted the policy because it is important that the world health community understands the AAP is totally opposed to all forms of female genital cutting, both here in the U.S. and anywhere else in the world,” said AAP President Judith S. Palfrey.
The contentious policy statement, issued in April, had condemned the practice of female genital cutting overall. But a small portion of statement suggesting the pricking procedure riled U.S. advocacy groups and survivors of female genital cutting.
In the April statement, the group raised the idea that some physicians should be able to prick or nick a girl’s clitoral skin in order to “satisfy cultural requirements.” The group likened the nick to an ear piercing.
On Thursday the AAP stated the group will not condone doctors to provide any kind of “clitoral nick.” The AAP also clarified nicking a girl or woman’s genitals is forbidden under a 1996 federal law banning female genital mutilation.
“I cried and told them how grateful I am,” said Soraya Mire, a Somali filmmaker and survivor of female genital cutting. “Thank you for understanding us survivors and hearing our voices.”
Equality Now, an international advocacy group fighting to end female genital cutting, echoed a similarly appreciative response.
“We welcome the AAP’s decision to withdraw its 2010 policy statement on FGM,” said Lakshmi Anantnarayan, a spokeswoman at Equality Now. “This is a crucial step forward in the movement to raise awareness about female genital mutilation.”
Up to 140 million women and children worldwide have been affected by female genital cutting, according to the World Health Organization. Any process that alters or injures female genitalia for non-medical purposes is considered to be female genital cutting, the group says.
Female genital cutting — also referred to as female genital mutilation and female circumcision — is a ritual dating back thousands of years. It’s typically practiced in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In some communities, it’s strongly believed that genital cutting marks a woman’s journey to adulthood. The WHO reports that cutting typically occurs between infancy and 15 years of age.
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-27/health/AAP.retracts.female.genital.cutting_1_female-circumcision-aap-policy-statement?_s=PM:HEALTH

Mama Grizzly
Mama Grizzly
11 years ago

I am 100% familiar with the practice of FGM, in all it’s forms.
About my take on this story . . . I had recalled a story of an Egyptian women whose mother had refused the expected procedure (FGM) be performed on her daughter, who was suffering greatly the taunts and brutal rejection of her schoolmates. So the mother pretended to perform the operation by simply pinching the child’s genitals hard, causing some pain, but no damage. This sufficed the little girl at the time, as well as her classmates, and she was welcomed back into the fold. When she was an adult, she was ever so thankful to her mother for the subterfuge and is an active opponent of FGM.
My presumption was that a pretend, i.e., actual “nick”, as in a pin prick or perhaps paper cut sized incision (which would easily heal with no ill effect whatsoever), was being substituted for the barbarity of FGM, in an attempt to bring this group out of the darkness and restore female (and male) sexuality. Honestly, if that were the case, I still would consider it a step forward. In some African villages, whose inhabitants have given up FGM entirely, a ritual rite is substituted having nothing to do with genital cutting. That is the best. But if nothing else will do, I applaud people, like the girl’s mother, who will pretend (lie) to save a life. Apparently my mistake is thinking that this Dr. was doing something similar.

Mama Grizzly
Mama Grizzly
11 years ago

“If you watch the video on the subject on his website, he clearly approves of excision of the clitoral hood to prevent “morbid sexual excitement” ! ! ! Have you or anyone you’ve ever known suffered from morbid sexual excitement?”
Yes. Among a large percentage of Moslem men.
What an insult to women. And how typical. Glad the guy has been dismissed.

Kathleen7546
Kathleen7546
11 years ago

FGM is required by the 4 schools of Sharia jurisprudence. Keep this in mind when Imams employing Takiyya extol the benefits of Shria. Many Muslims do not know this, as many Christians do not know a lot of their religion. FGM has been found on Egyptian mummies. Egypt leads the world with 97% of girls who have had it. This is current, now. Read an estimate that there are l500 immigrants to Ireland who have had it in home countries. George Weigel’s book Faith Reason and the War against Jihadism cites differences between Islam and Christianity. I learned a lot. He also uses the phrase ‘self-imposed dhimmitude’. US exemplifiesthis to our peril. Sometimes I suppose the reason the government refuses to acknowledge the threat of Islam is that they are ginning up conflict/war.

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