bust

An epidemic of penile amputations in Thailand led researchers to inquire into what was going on 'It became fashionable in the 1970s for the humiliated Thai wife to wait until her husband fell asleep, then sever his penis with a kitchen knife.' Photograph: Alamy About once per decade, the medical profession takes a careful look back at Thailand's plethora of penile amputations. The first great reckoning appeared in a 1983 issue of the American Journal of Surgery. Surgical Management of an Epidemic of Penile Amputations in Siam, by Kasian Bhanganada and four fellow physicians at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, introduces the subject: "It became fashionable in the decade after 1970 for the humiliated Thai wife to wait until her [philandering] husband fell asleep so that she could quickly sever his penis with a kitchen knife. A traditional Thai home is elevated on pilings and the windows are open to allow for ventilation. The area under the house is the home of the family pigs, chickens, and ducks. Thus, it is quite usual that an amputated penis is tossed out of an open window, where it may be captured by a duck." The report explains, for readers in other countries: "The Thai saying, 'I better get home or the ducks will have something to eat,' is therefore a common joke and immediately understood at all levels of society". The bulk of the paper reports how the doctors and their colleagues learned, over the course of attempting 18 reimplantations, how to improve the necessary surgical techniques. Unambiguous photographs supplement the text. "Interestingly", the physicians remark at the very end, "none of our patients filed a criminal complaint against their attackers." An article called Factors Associated with Penile Amputation in Thailand, published in 1998 in the journal NursingConnections, explores the reasons behind that. Gregory Bechtel and Cecilia Tiller, from the Medical College of Georgia (in Atlanta), gathered data from three couples who had been part of the epidemic. The couples, by then divorced, discussed their experience calmly. Bechtel and Tiller report that in each case, three things had happened during the week prior to dismemberment: (1) a financial crisis; (2) "ingestion of drugs or alcohol by the husband immediately prior to the event; and (3) public humiliation of the wife owing to the presence of a second 'wife' or concubine". In 2008, the Journal of Urology carried a retrospective by Drs Genoa Ferguson and Steven Brandes of the Washington University in St Louis, called The Epidemic of Penile Amputation in Thailand in the 1970s. Ferguson and Brandes conclude that: "Women publicly encouraging and inciting other scorned women to commit this act worsened the epidemic. The vast majority of worldwide reports of penile replantation, to this day, are a result of what became a trendy form of retribution in a country in which fidelity is a strongly appreciated value." http://www.theguardi...n-cut-off-penis

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I hear the street bars along Suk are about to be shut down. I am guessing this will include the all Sois as well. Anyone hear the same?

You're probably right. He is a resident of New York and street performer Mathew Silver

Think you're on your own there dim sim

You be the judge http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au//stories/8887943/the-australian-parents-of-baby-gammy-to-speak-on-60-minutes

Maybe this guy has got it all figured out.....

No

There will be an interview on TV Sunday night with the surrogate parents. The father in the promo hints that they need to leave Thailand quickly for certain reasons. Will be interesting to hear their side. Could it be another Amazing Thailand story?

Never been to one but I hear some of the girls will do just about anything to win

http://youtu.be/hKWmFWRVLlU

Not a bad idea considering the events that took place recently.

They are actually doing a big crackdown on that at the moment.

Reports this morning are that the doctors at the hospital did not disclose the second baby. Utter bullshit IMHO. I am sure as surrogates they would have been closely monitoring the prgenancy and knew all along they were having twins.

Not sure what the point would be.

All I hope is the parents are dealt with appropriately. Abandoned ... baby Gammy was left with his Thai surrogate mother after his Australian parents discovered he had Down syndrome. Source: Supplied WELL-wishers have raised nearly $121,675 for a baby reportedly left with his surrogate Thai mother after his Australian parents discovered he had Down’s syndrome and returned home with his healthy twin sister. Six-month old Gammy is in hospital with a lung infection, and his 21-year-old Thai surrogate mother, Pattharamon Janbua, fears he will die unless he undergoes surgery for a congenital heart condition, The unnamed couple used a surrogate after they were unable to conceive naturally. Ms Pattharamon became pregnant with twins and when tests at the four-month mark showed the baby boy, named Gammy, had Down syndrome the couple reportedly told her to have an abortion. Ms Pattharamon, a Buddhist, refused. When the twins were born in Bangkok the couple took Gammy’s sister — who was born healthy — home but refused to take the boy. The couple reportedly paid $11,700 for Ms Pattharamon to be a surrogate and the surrogacy agency promised her another $1637 when it was discovered she was carrying twins. “The money that was offered was a lot for me. In my mind, with that money, one, we can educate my children, two, we can repay our debt,†said Pattaramon, already a mother to two children, in an interview with the broadcaster in Chonburi. Ms Pattharamon never met the couple. She is now desperately trying to raise money to care for Gammy, who has a congenital heart condition and is critically ill. Critically ill ... Gammy’s surrogate mother is trying to raise funds to pay for an operation to treat his congenital heart condition. “I don’t know what to do. I chose to have him ... I love him, he was in my tummy for nine months,†she said in the interview. Pattaramon has never met Gammy’s Australian parents, according to Thai newspaper Thairath, which broke the story of Gammy last week, and their identities remain unknown. “I would like to tell Thai women — don’t get into this business as a surrogate. Don’t just think only for money ... if something goes wrong no one will help us and the baby will be abandoned from society, then we have to take responsibility for that,†The family has set up a Hope for Gammy campaign to help fund the baby’s operations. The campaign is reportedly being supported by Australian embassy staff in Bangkok. It has raised $121,675 so far. “6 month old baby Gammy was born in Bangkok with down syndrome and a congenital heart condition. He was abandoned by his family and is being cared for by a young Thai woman who does not have the funds for his desperately needed medical treatment,†the GoFundMe page says. “ Please make a donation so that he can have these operations and improve his quality of life. All monies raised will be kept in trust and will only be used for the care and wellbeing of Gammy.†Left behind ... Gammy will never get to meet his twin sister, who was taken to Australia after they were born. Furious Australians rushed to donate to the campaign, labelling the Australian couple’s actions appalling. “I have a surrogate daughter and appalled that this could be allowed to happen. Selfish, selfish people — surrogacy should be regulated onshore IN Australia, to stop this sort of thing from occurring,†wrote Stuart Rees. Shally Backus wrote: “A warm welcome to this beautiful world little fella. Sorry your start was a little rocky — not all Australians are like this †Rebecca Brown was also outraged, writing: “The behaviour of these Australian parents is appalling — to leave one of their children to die because he is not “perfect� SHAME on them. I pray for every blessing for Gammy and his Thai family. Hopefully Australians can band together and show them a different picture of Australian nature.†“May this selfish and heartless couple be exposed and shamed for this horrible neglect!†said another. Thai health officials have now moved to crack down on the surrogacy business, declaring this week that the only legal surrogacy cases were between a married couple unable to conceive who use a blood relative to bear their child. Surrogacy contracts with unmarried or same-sex couples, and paid surrogacy were declared illegal. They also declared that foreign couples taking a child from its mother to another country required permission from Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Without permission they would be deemed to be violating human trafficking laws. http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/k-raised-for-abandoned-baby-with-down-syndrome-born-to-thai-surrogate/story-fnet08ck-1227009760126

Was that on Soi4 by any chance?

@ waerth http://youtu.be/ajZUZrjMuLM

hmmmm.......dinosaur 'ay

Sounds about right. Gotta love the Thais.....numbers go down so they put prices up to make up the losses.... :banghead: LOS just about off the menu for me.

Maybe we can have a ruling from Chocolate Steve.....