Blood Transfusion

Saving A Child’s Life… One at a Time

Published by Papa Giorgio

I was happy to hear this one… chalk one up for the commons sense.

COURT ORDERS JEHOVAH’S WITNESS BOY BE GIVEN BLOOD TRANSFUSION

A hospital has won the right to give a child potentially life-saving blood transfusions despite the religious objections of the boy and his family.

In a South Australian legal first, the Supreme Court this afternoon gave the Women’s and Children’s Hospital the right to give a 10-year-old boy – a member of the Jehovah’s Witness faith – transfusions as part of his cancer treatment.

The decision, in line with similar rulings from around the world, paves the way for hospitals to take action in future debates with religious parents.

The boy is suffering from an aggressive form of cancer that doctors fear will spread throughout his entire body if not treated with an intense 39-week regime of chemotherapy and surgery.

The speed of that process will not allow his blood cells time to regenerate, meaning he will require transfusions so that the chemotherapy can continue unabated.

In a statement read to the court, the boy said transfusions carried spiritual consequences.

“The doctors have told me I might die and I don’t want to – but I don’t want blood,” he said.

“The blood will change me… when you take blood, you are taking someone else’s life…

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CULT WATCH: Teen Refuses Blood Transfusion and Dies

Published by Papa Giorgio

A teenage Jehovah’s Witness who was crushed by a car refused a blood transfusion before he died.

Joshua McAuley, 15, is understood to have declined the treatment advised by doctors and was not overruled by members of his family.

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The teenager was a member of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Smethwick.

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A spokesman from Selly Oak hospital said: “There’s not one single policy and not one single law regarding transfusions. There’s no automatic right to override parental wishes or that of a minor. It’s a very complex area that has to be approached on a case by case basis. ”

Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that passages of the Bible forbid blood transfusions. Members who do accept such treatment can be cast out of the church. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses carry a signed and witnessed advance directive card absolutely refusing blood and releasing doctors from any liability arising from this refusal.

Clive Parker, an elder at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses where Joshua and his family worshipped, said: “I believe he was conscious enough after the accident and he made a stand on the blood issue. He made the choice personally.”

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NEWER MEDIA!

(Cedars’ vlog no. 242) Jehovah’s Witnesses are well known for refusing blood transfusions, but when did their blood teaching originate and does it make logical sense? In this video I pose seven questions to Witnesses who consider themselves loyal to this potentially life-threatening interpretation of scripture.