Dr. Venkatesan R Gorantla, MD

While I am grateful that my son survived the meconium issues he had at birth thanks to Dr G, I will never forget that under Dr G's direction the NICU needed to be kept dark and quiet to avoid putting my son's heart rate and breathing under stress. Dr. G stood at the foot of my son's NICU cot and tried to talk us into circumcising my son. I hadn't even gotten a chance to hold my baby because of his fragile breathing and heart rate. I stayed in the hospital for a week with my baby and everyday during rounds Dr. G would come through to my room with medical students to ask if I reconsidered my refusal because they needed to do it the day before we were released from the hospital. When I think back to my beginning weeks as a new mom I will always remember Dr G with bittersweet memories because he saved my baby but also wanted to perform an elective, cosmetic, genital surgery on my fragile baby and would not take no for answer even when I was clear on my position on circumcision from the… time I stepped foot on the L&D floor.