Brooklyn - Famous Mohel Allegedly Botched Bris

BROOKLYN, NY (CN) - A rabbi botched the bris of an infant who had a birth defect involving his penis, and then failed to preserve the foreskin, the boy's mother claims in Kings County Superior Court.

Rabbi Eliyahu Shain performed the bris on Benjamin Altman in December 2009 at New York University Medical Center's Pediatric Associates of New York City.

But the boy's mother, Staci H. Altman, says the mohel failed to recognize that the boy had hypospadias, a medical condition where the urethra develops on the underside of the penis.

Since then, the boy's permanent injuries have caused him to suffer "great physical pain and mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life," according to the lawsuit.

The circumcision was allegedly performed "outside of a hospital or appropriate medical facility," but the complaint does not specify where.

A hospital spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The boy's mother seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages for negligence.

She and her son are represented by John Bailly with Bailly and McMillan.