Dr Hershel Goldman banned from circumcision surgery by Medical Board after amputating penises of two infant boys

A leading Melbourne circumcision doctor who has admitted to “serious error” in amputating the penises of two infant boys — one “at the base” — is fighting to be allowed to keep operating, after being banned by the Medical Board.

Dr Hershel Goldman. Picture: Cairnlea Superclinic

One of Melbourne’s top circumcision doctors has been banned from performing the surgeries after he amputated the penises of two infant boys, a tribunal has heard.

Dr Hershel Goldman, who has performed 20,000 procedures, is fighting to continue to do the operations despite admitting he made a “serious error”.

One baby required a life saving blood transfusion, while the other suffered “potentially life long disfigurement” after two religious circumcisions in the home, a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing was told on Thursday.

Dr Goldman, who has performed 20,000 procedures, is fighting to continue to do the operations despite admitting he made a "serious error". Picture: Cairnlea Superclinic

Following a complaint to authorities in December, Dr Goldman’s licence was restricted by the Medical Board of Australia on April 4, banning him from performing any circumcisions.

The doctor is now fighting for a stay of the decision, seeking to continue operating in his Melbourne Circumcision Centre, in Noble Park and Cairnlea, but agreed to stop doing religious surgeries in the home.

The board has hit back, standing firm on its call to restrict his licence, but allowing him to continue working as a GP.

The tribunal this week heard that in the first complaint, a baby suffered a “significant complication” during a procedure, and that “the day was only saved because the room happened to be filled with medical practitioners” who undertook an emergency response that “wasn’t being conducted” by Dr Hershel.

In a second and more extreme complaint, it’s alleged Dr Hershel failed to realise he’d amputated a boy’s entire penis.

Hours later, when his parents discovered the gravity of their son’s injury following a nappy change, they rushed the boy to hospital where he required a blood transfusion.

Dr Goldman, through his lawyer, claimed that only the tip, or the ‘glans penis’ of this second boy had been inadvertently amputated.

That claim led to a furious response from the child’s mother who immediately objected to the tribunal, writing “the entire penis was amputated at the base”.

Barrister James Stoller, for Dr Hershel, said he was “extremely upset about the error that occurred, he thinks about it daily”.

“In those circumstances where he’s so cognisant of the error, he’s just not likely to repeat it,” he said.

He said Dr Hershel’s practice, which he’d built up over 40 years, would be “destroyed” if he wasn’t able to perform circumcisions.

He also claimed a risk of adverse patient outcomes to Jewish babies if they weren’t able to obtain a religious circumcision, or that parents would seek out someone to perform the surgery who wasn’t a registered medical practitioner.

“There is no prohibition on an unregistered individual performing a circumcision in this state,” Mr Stoller said.

“It is well known that religious leaders can and do perform the procedure.”

But barrister Ben Jellis, for the Medical Board of Australia, hit back stating that public safety was the “paramount issue”.

“These are the most serious types of issues that can arise, one was a life threatening complication with respect to the blood transfusion, the other was also one that required emergency surgery, potential lifelong disfigurement,” he said.

“Money is money, but serious complications for a patient are forever.”

Mr Jellis said the two incidents happened in “relatively short succession” and that “we’re dealing with the practitioner as he is now, rather than as he was or has been over a different period of time”.

Senior Member Ian Proctor reserved his decision on the stay application.

A full review hearing will be held at the tribunal at a later date.