Legal position is unclear

Editor—In the news item by Linda Beecham the chairman of the General Medical Council standards committee, Professor Sir Cyril Chantler, assures readers that male circumcision is legal.1 The position is not, however, as clear as he claims. There is no doubt that parents have the power to give proxy consent for removal of an incompetent child's foreskin or any other tissue when removal is strictly necessary for therapeutic reasons. When the removal of tissue is not necessary for treating or diagnosing disease a parent only has the legal power of consent …