The District Attorney should consider charging the parents of the infant killed as a result of metzitzah b’peh with involuntary manslaughter (“Brooklyn DA Looking Into Infant’s Death From Controversial Bris Practice,” posted online March 5; see page 1).
The parents have the ultimate responsibility of providing protection for their child. They should not be able to hide behind some type of defense that they were doing it for religious reasons. There has been enough dissemination in the media that all should know of the dangers of this controversial practice, known as “oral suction.” The elements of involuntary manslaughter include that the act was inherently dangerous to others or done with reckless disregard for human life. And that the defendant knew or should have known his or her conduct was a threat to the lives of others.
If this becomes a known consequence of allowing this type of circumcision, it will soon stop. There can be no allowable religious defense.
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