Surgeon Amputates 3-Year-Old's Penis In Botched Circumcision, Replaces It With Rolled Gauze

A surgeon amputated a three-year-old boy’s penis in a botched circumcision and tried to hide it with gauze and bandage. The incident took place in Brazil last month and the doctor was found dead a few days after the incident.

Speaking to local media Sunday, the boy’s father, 24-year-old Alberthy Camargos, said he took his son to a clinic for a routine check-up when he was advised he needed the surgery. He got worried when the surgery took longer than expected, however, the doctor, identified as Pedro Abrantes, told him that everything was fine. When the father removed the boy’s bandage post the surgery, he was shocked to discover that his penis was replaced with a piece of gauze.

Recalling the incident, he said, “About a year ago I was told my son was suffering from phimosis, where the foreskin of the penis cannot be easily retracted. I was advised that an operation would be simple and straightforward. On the day of the treatment, I left my son in the hospital with my mum as I had meetings at work. When I returned, I realized something was wrong. This was a procedure that should have taken about 30 minutes, but it lasted nearly four hours.”

“When the doctor took off the first bloodstained bandage there was a kind of rolled gauze underneath that appeared to be covering my son's penis. But when that was taken off there was nothing there but a stump and no visible penis. I went crazy with the shock,” he added.

The man then discharged the boy from the clinic the following day and transferred him to another hospital where the doctors confirmed that the boy’s genitals were severed. The boy then underwent a plastic surgery. Meanwhile, the doctor, with over 30 years of experience, died of cardiac arrest a few days after the incident. An internal inquiry was underway and the team members who assisted Abrantes were being questioned.

“We have collected all the documents surrounding this case and we are now in the process of hearing testimonies from those involved. We need to establish whether Dr Abrantes, who died under non-suspicious circumstances, was responsible solely for the medical error or whether other professionals were involved,” police said. Meanwhile, the boy was recovering at home.