SHUNNED FATHER DEATHSUIT AGAINST THE WATCHTOWER - UPDATE

by SHUNNED FATHER 110 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  eve342832

  Hi, i totally agree with you and as far as the wt,they are not impossible to bring down.This is the reason why the elders frown upon outsiders.They say that we bring harm to their family.Thats the biggest joke yet,and as far as the truth,they wouldnt know the truth if it fell from the sky and hit them square in the face.They will bring it on themselves with their contradictions and new light rubbish,in other words lets change this just to suit us.Think not.You keep fighting,you never know when a wealthy business man could be logged on and make a generous donation to a good cause.That would make wt think twice.Thats my say on the matter. Eve xx
• 

  dwarfw

  Mr. IW is simply trying to turn attention away from how to donate to cause of suing the Watchtower Society; namely, we need to mail checks (U.S., Canada, whatever) to:

  SAVE THE CHILDREN

  C/O Lawrence Hughes

  P.O Box 20161

  Calgary Place, RPO

  Calgary, Alberta, Canada

  T2P 4J3

  Also, those who have their own discussion forums, email lists etc need to post or email copies of Lawrence Hughes' letter there. P.S. For all IW knows Lawrence already had doubts about the Watchtower misteachings. His daughter went willingly but only because horribly misinformed by the two Watchtower attorneys and given arsenic to boot.
• 

  hubert

  Third, after leaving my lifelong religion, my friends and family and, like many here, suffering mightily for it I refuse to be put into another box!

  Unfortunately, I think that many of you, including IW, had been burnt so bad by the Watchtower, that they have lost all trust in mankind. I can't say that I blame you for that.

  I have been burnt in the past, too, but not after spending 10-20-30 years in a "religion" that was supposed to be "The Truth", and finding out it is all lies, and that I have been lied to and deceived all those years. So, my "burns" are not as bad as yours, since I have never been a j.w.

  What is sad is the fact that it has affected your trust in mankind to the point that some of you won't even spend a few bucks on something so important as this. And if you do get burnt, what's the big deal, you didn't spend 30 years in it, you only lost a few bucks.

  I am willing to take the chance. I don't care if I ever get the money back, too. I've lost more than this in the stock market crash a few years back, so what's a few more bucks going to hurt. It's not going to break me. It's worth the investment.

  GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT, LAWRENCE.

  By the way, Welcome to the board, to....... dwarfw and eve342832

  Hubert
• 

  jgnat

  As Bethany died here in Edmonton, I've spent some time tracking the progress of Lawrence Hughes' battle and the circumstances surrounding Bethany's death. I would not characterize Island Woman's questions as being objective, balanced, or fair. Understanding dad's choices is all in the timing of events.

  1. Bethany is diagnosed with a life-threatening leukemia.
  2. Blood transfusions are administered, Bethany is content with passive resistance, but mother is not. Drama ensues.
  3. Government steps in, takes over custody of Bethany.
  4. Dad re-reads blood verses to Bethany to build their faith, has an epiphany and changes his stance on blood.
  5. Dad is cut-off from the family.
  6. Blood transfusions continue.
  7. A year or two later? Bethany's condition takes a turn for the worse. She is now terminal.
  8. The doctors are now convinced Bethany understands the gravity of her illness. Her status changes to "mature minor".
  9. Government steps out of the custody agreement and allows Bethany to make her own choice.
  10. Bethany is spirited away to an unknown location, and dad is not told where.
  11. Bethany no longer has blood transfusions and is administered a completely useless course of treatment.
  12. She declines rapidly.
  13. Hours before her death, dad is finally notified of her location and rushes to her bedside. He can't make it in time and Lawrence Hughes is inconsolable.

  One wonders, if blood not been an issue at the BEGINNING of her treatment, if the doctors might have been able to follow a more aggressive treatment plan to save her life. The delays may have killed her, and severe aenemia at her end certainly did.

  Rebel 8 supplies good background information:

  http://www.jwinfo.8m.com/blood.htm

  Early on I expressed concerns with the way that Shunned Father solicited our support. From this post I see he has addressed all of those concerns. I respect people who learn from their mistakes.
• 

  Dogpatch

  I think Shunned Father has a heart of gold in this matter. I supported him financially because of it.

  Randy
• 

  Quotes

  Thank you, jgnat, for that summary. I would like to offer one correction. You said:
  
  11.Bethany no longer has blood transfusions and is administered a completely useless course of treatment.
  
  I would humbly suggest that should read as follows:
  
  11.Bethany no longer has blood transfusions and is administered an extremely toxic, dangerous poison which has zero positive effect and reversed the great recovery she had been making just prior to the start of this Arsenic "treatment".
  
  IMO, giving someone poison is much, much worse than simply giving them a useless placebo.
  
  At the above just deals with the doctor's malpractice. Don't get me started on the WTS lawyer's legal malpractice. Consider this: the courts have agreed to let the case move forward, against the doctor and the lawyers.
  
  Gnam and Brady (yes, I know you are reading this! Hi Guys!), how do you spell D-I-S-B-A-R-R-E-D? Don't worry, one of you can always fall back on your fantastic Cinnomon baking skills; the other will just have to learn how to get up at 4am ("time to make the donuts!")
  
  ~Q
• 

  Rig Boy

  There is no question in my mind that there are crypto-Governing Body members on JWD here trying to mess up Hughes potential for financial support. People should be thinking....if the GB is going this far, they must really be afraid of Hughes and the suit. That says a lot!
• 

  IW

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/14/36093/485764/post.ashx#485764

  Jehovah's Witness teen dies By CAROL HARRINGTON -- The Canadian Press CALGARY -- A 17-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl who received dozens of blood transfusions against her wishes died Thursday of leukemia in an Edmonton hospital. Since the Calgary teen was diagnosed last February with acute leukemia, Bethany Hughes fought a very public court battle that split her parents and pitted the teen against the Alberta government. "I wasn't expecting her to die," said Stan Hill, a family friend and an elder at Bethany's Calgary church. "I'm just distraught." "She put up a grand fight and she almost beat the cancer," said Hill, who visited Bethany in hospital last week. The teen died at 1:30 p.m. MDT, after taking a turn for the worst the previous day, Hill said. Shane Brady, a lawyer for the girl's mother said his client did not want to talk to media. "The Hughes family is grieving the loss of Bethany, a courageous young woman who fought her disease with dignity to the end," Brady said in a news release. Throughout court proceedings, judges consistently went against the findings of psychiatrists and bioethicists who argued that Hughes was a mature minor. The courts awarded the province custody under Alberta Child Welfare Act. The courts concluded that the teen was pressured by her religion to refuse the transfusions and that she didn't have a free, informed will. Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that the Bible states in Acts 15:28 that blood transfusions are against God's wishes. Doctors gave Hughes a 40 to 50 per cent chance of beating the cancer with intensive chemotherapy and blood transfusions. But after four months of treatment, cancerous legions appeared on her back and doctors held out little hope that she would survive. During many transfusions, Hughes struggled with hospital staff, who held her down in her hospital bed. She originally told court that her refusal to accept blood was for religious reasons. But after months in hospital, she said it became a fight for teenagers' rights to choose medical treatment. "My case is about rights," she told a provincial court in July. "We live in this great country called Canada -- a country where all its citizens can live the way they want to, go where they want to. "They have freedoms -- the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. . . . But if you are under 18 you don't fall under citizen any more. They take it away." Shortly after Hughes was diagnosed with leukemia, her father decided to go against the Witness faith by consenting to the blood transfusions. Hughes turned cold and later angry toward him for not taking her part against the transfusions, her father said. Her parents separated and Bethany, her 14-year-old sister Cassandra and her mother moved away from the family home into a three-bedroom apartment in June. Even though he was ostracized by the Jehovah's Witnesses and his wife and daughters, Lawrence Hughes said he has no regrets. "I did what I think any decent father would do -- try to save their child's life at any cost," he said. "I'd do it all over again. I have no guilt whatsoever nor any regrets." The family had moved from Belleville, Ont., to Calgary three years ago. Many bioethicists say this case is similar to that of Tyrell Dueck, a 13-year-old Saskatoon boy whose Christian fundamentalist family battled in 1999 with doctors and Social Services over whether the boy was capable of deciding his own medical treatment for cancer. Dueck and his family opted for prayers, herbal remedies and alternative treatments at a Mexican clinic, rather than undergoing the recommended conventional treatment. He died after the cancer spread to his lungs. In the Hughes and Dueck cases, judges ruled that the teen's parents and religious upbringing skewed their ability to make reasonable, sound medical decisions. And in both cases, the provincial governments dropped custody of the teens when the cancer returned and doctors said death was imminent.
• 

  hubert

  BTTT

  IW, Don't believe everything you read in the newspapers.

  Hubert
• 

  jgnat

  Much of my chronology is built on the court transcripts, as well as a talk I heard from Lawrence Hughes and contemporary newspaper accounts. That article that IW quotes takes the events out of sequence. Bethany was initially satisfied to be a passive objector. It was the influence of her mother and congregation members that convinced her that receiving blood was "spiritual rape." Bethany Hughes was eventually granted Mature Minor status once the doctors declared her condition terminal. Her death should not have been a surprise to the congregation.