Dean Cochrun sues hospital for circumcising him as a newborn
A gavel rests on top of a desk in the courtroom of the Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum in Miami. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A prison inmate in South Dakota is suing the hospital that circumcised him as a newborn, claiming the procedure has robbed him of his sexual prowess.
According to a complaint filed late last week in federal court, Dean Cochrun, 28, alleges that a doctor at Sioux Valley Hospital — now Sanford Health — misled his mother into thinking circumcision was a necessary medical procedure, the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader reported.
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He argues the circumcision was unnecessary, unethical and without medical benefit, according to The Associated Press.
Cochrun is asking for $1,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. He also asks in the lawsuit that his foreskin be restored "in the hopes I could feel whole again," though he acknowledged that he didn't expect such a restoration to be anything more than aesthetic, the AP reported.
"I will never know how it feels to have that sensitivity during sexual intercourse and have a normal sex life that is pleasurable for myself and my partners," Cochrun wrote.
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In a reply filed in court, patient relations representative DyAnn Smith wrote that Sanford would not pay to replace Cochrun's foreskin.
"There will be no further correspondence about this matter," she wrote.