Doctor 'botched baby's circumcision'

An Enfield doctor botched a circumcision on a Muslim baby, leaving him with "abnormal" looking genitals, a hearing has been told.

The procedure left the five-and-a-half month old infant with a "two-tone" coloured penis, the General Medical Council heard. Dr Anthonipillai Nicholas-Pillai denied unprofessional conduct when he appeared before the GMC in central London.

The child's Muslim parents, who are of Somalian origin, took the baby and his brother, then six, to Bush Hill Park Medical Centre in April 2001 to have the operation conducted for religious reasons.

The panel heard how the baby's mother discovered abnormalities when bathing her child the morning after the circumcision.

The child's father told the Fitness to Practise hearing: "The bandage really fell off when she put him in the water and she saw that it was a very abnormal penis. It was kind of reddish. There was still a bit of green but no glans."

The couple returned to the surgery to see Dr Nicholas-Pillai the next day.

After examining the baby, the doctor reassured the child's parents that everything was satisfactory and prescribed a cream for them to use on the child. However, the parents were dissatisfied and made several trips to their local GP and the Accident and Emergency Department of Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield between the months of April and July. A revision procedure took place on July 25, 2001.

Baby A's father said his son's penis is still two-tone in colour. "Physically it won't affect him but the colour is not there. We are not sure how it will affect him psychologically."

The Bangalore-trained doctor denies charges of acting unprofessionally and below the standard of a reasonably competent medical practitioner.