Chase Nebus-Hironimus, the Florida child caught in the center of a parental battle over the state of his foreskin, now stands at great risk of being circumcised against his will at any time. But there is still hope and we must do what we can to continue to support him with our best efforts.

You can help at the convenient, comfortable location of your home or during your lunch break at work. An easy action for you, a potentially life-changing one for Chase.

Here’s what you do:

1). JOIN the Facebook event page.

2). SEND educational letters AND emails to the pediatric urologists in practice where he’s most likely to undergo the procedure. in your city/state. They should be aware that the nation’s people stand with Chase’s right to speak for himself, and that Chase is at this point a well-known public figure and face for a movement of men and women who believe that forcing circumcision is a serious breach of ethics.

3). SHARE your sources, ideas, and contact info for pediatric urologists on the event page. Post your drafts to get feedback if you need help.

The letter does not have to be long — just informational, clearly stating your support for Chase, and your thoughts on the matter of violating his wish for bodily integrity.

UPDATE: As of 5/22/15, Chase’s father has been granted permission by Judge Gillen to travel anywhere in the U.S. with Chase, so it’s likely he’ll take him out of state. Please focus on sending a letter to every pediatric urologic surgeon in YOUR area and tell your friends to do so in their cities/states so not one potential performing doctor is left out.

Feel free to use the list for contact information of potential performing doctors in his area (Florida), which is available on the event page. Second- and third-degree relatives of Chase’s father, Dennis Nebus, have also been found in Tennessee, West Virginia, Texas, Massachusetts, and New York. Please also send your letters to practitioners in those states and states in close travel proximity to Florida, too (Google search urologists/pediatricians).

TIPS:

*Keep your audience in mind – pediatric urologists

*It is of the utmost importance that you REMAIN RESPECTFUL yet firm in your wording – this means it would be detrimental to use threats of any kind, pedantic language belittling the doctors’ level education, name-calling or foul words.

*Please CHECK GRAMMAR AND SPELLING.

*If including sources, make sure they’re valid and appropriate. Find more sources/studies at SavingSons.org and DrMomma.org.

EXAMPLE TEMPLATE (Feel free to copy, paste, and amend as desired):

To [INSERT DOCTOR’S TITLE AND NAME]: I have great concern for a young child named Chase Nebus-Hironimus regarding the matter of his forced circumcision. Hon. Judge Jeffery Dana Gillen has ruled that Chase may be circumcised per a prior parental agreement made when he was a baby. I believe the agreement is irrelevant now that Chase is 4.5 years old — old enough that he has verbalized he does NOT want to be circumcised. Unfortunately, he was not given the chance to defend himself in court and now he stands at imminent risk of undergoing this permanent procedure against his will and best interest. I hope you will strongly consider a few points before facilitating a circumcision for Chase (should he be accepted as your client) under mistaken assumptions that it would be beneficial, without significant risk, psychologically benign, or medically warranted. First, no medical organization in the world recommends circumcision, including the American Academy of Pediatrics [1a, b]. The testifying urologist in Chase’s case, Dr. Charles E. Flack, opined on May 9th, 2014 that the procedure is not medically necessary. As you know, a doctor should — by ethical and standard protocol — receive consent and approval from the owner of the body before performing any non-emergency medical procedure, circumcision notwithstanding [2]. In situations like this we must refer back to the Hippocratic Oath: “First do no harm” [3]. Circumcision, especially on a perfectly healthy 4.5-year-old, is not medically necessary OR beneficial. The purported benefits of circumcision — lower risk of UTIs (which can be treated with antibiotics) and lower risk of penile cancer (which is more rare than breast cancer in men) [4a, b] — are insignificant and do NOT outweigh the many common short-term and long-term risks [5a, b]. The foreskin is an incredibly valuable organ with more than a dozen unique functions serving anatomical, sexual, hygienic, protective and other purposes [6]. It is not vestigial tissue. It’s also important to understand the condition called phimosis, which is not diagnosable in a child who is Chase’s age as it is a CONGENITAL and NORMAL state of the penis, therefore it is NOT a condition requiring treatment of any kind. True phimosis at an age when the foreskin should be naturally retractible can be treated without invasive, permanent removal of the foreskin (Dr. Flack confirmed in one hearing that Chase is not affected by this) [7]. We must also evaluate Chase’s personal physical fitness to undergo a circumcision at his age. I implore you to thoroughly review Chase’s medical history, specifically with regard to keloid scarring and tolerance of general anesthesia, when evaluating benefit-to-risk ratio for him [see attachment below, 10]. Perhaps most importantly, psychologists recommend young children who undergo traumatic surgery should have counseling to look for signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to help them cope with mourning the loss of an amputated body part [8a, b]. This would undoubtedly be a tremendous emotional and mental assault as much as physical – an avoidable suffering that no child should have to endure. Today there are many men who were once children just like Chase. They feel violated and angry that they weren’t given a voice about being circumcised. Likewise, their loved ones are just as horrified that the harm has affected their relationships and feelings of being able to protect them as they deserve [9]. Chase deserves to have a voice in the matter of keeping all of his perfectly healthy, valuable and multi-functional body parts. I hope you agree, and will not only refuse to perform this harmful procedure but also use your educated position to inform your peers. If you have any further questions, feel free to email SavingSons@gmail.com. Thank you for your attention and time,

[INSERT YOUR NAME]

**ETA: You can request in this group for another, different template by Chase’s Guardians that can also be used.

SOURCES:

1a). “Medical Organization Position Statements On Circumcision” – Dr. Momma

http://www.drmomma.org/2014/08/medical-organization-position.html

1b). “Letter to American Academy of Pediatrics.” Denniston GC. October 15, 2002.

http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/info/aapletter10-15-02.html

2) “Medical doctors must respect the human rights of their patients.” Hill G. BMJ; 22 May 2003.

http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/29/medical-doctors-must-respect-human-rights-their-patients

3) “Conscientious Objection to the Performance of Non-Therapeutic Circumcision of Children” – Doctors Opposing Circumcision leaflet

http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/pdf/2008-03conscientiousobjectionleaflet.pdf

4a) Info and studies on UTIs – CIRP

http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/UTI/

4b) HIV, AIDS and Circumcision – web site

http://www.aidscirc.org/

5a) List of circumcision studies from peer-reviewed journals – Dr. Momma

http://www.drmomma.org/2007/01/circumcision-studies.html

5b) “Elephant in the Hospital” – Dr. Ryan McAllister’s Georgetown video lecture

http://vimeo.com/26130057

6) “Functions of the Foreskin: Purposes of the Prepuce” – Dr. Momma

http://www.drmomma.org/2009/09/functions-of-foreskin-purposes-of.html

7) “The Development of Retractile Foreskin in the Child and Adolescent” – Doctors Opposing Circumcision leaflet. http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/pdf/2008-03retractileforeskinleaflet.pdf

8a) “Male Circumcision: Pain, Trauma and Psychosexual Sequelae.” Boyle G. et al. Journal of Health Psychology (2002): 329-343.

http://epublications.bond.edu.au/hss_pubs/36/

8b) “A Preliminary Poll of Men Circumcised in Infancy or Childhood.” Hammond, T. BJU 83 (1999): suppl. 1: 85–92

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1464-410x.1999.0830s1085.x/pdf

9) Men Do Complain – web site

http://www.mendocomplain.com/

10) Attached screenshot via Chase’s Guardians: