Teenage surgeon
The week's news at a glance.
Tamil Nadu, India
Indian officials are investigating reports that a doctor couple let their 15-year-old son perform a Caesarean section in order to get into the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s youngest surgeon. The investigation began after several doctors said the parents had shown them a video of 15-year-old Dileepan Raj surgically opening the abdomen of a 20-year-old pregnant woman. Family members say the boy was only “helping out.” Even so, said a leader of the local medical association, his participation was “shocking and extremely unethical.” The parents, who run a clinic in southern India, could lose their medical licenses.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: ‘Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America’ and ‘How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998’
Feature A political ‘witch hunt’ and Helen Garner’s journal entries
By The Week US Published
-
The backlash against ChatGPT's Studio Ghibli filter
The Explainer The studio's charming style has become part of a nebulous social media trend
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?
Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published