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Feb. 20, 06:06 EDT
Court denies teen's religious objection to transfusion
Jehovah's Witness does not want to receive life-saving treatment
CALGARY (CP) - A 16-year-old girl with leukemia has lost her first battle to stop the Alberta government from forcing her to get life-saving blood transfusions.
The Jehovah's Witness girl doesn't want to receive another person's blood, even though she was diagnosed last week with leukemia.
But the province stepped in late Monday night, and the government was awarded temporary custody of the girl.
The girl's lawyer was in court Wednesday asking the court to stop the medical treatments until he can appeal the apprehension by the province, which took custody of the girl so that she receives life-saving blood transfusions.
But Justice John Rooke of Court of Queen's Bench would not grant the stay.
"If she doesn't have the treatment she will suffer irreparable harm," Rooke said.
"I acknowledge there is a harm to religious beliefs but that has to be balanced with right to life."
The appeal is set for April 25-26. txt Write
The girl and her parents cannot be named because she is a temporary ward of the province.
Her father was ecstatic with the court's decision.
"I'm very happy that my daughter has a chance to live," he said outside court.
The girl's father said that for the sake of his daughter, he has put aside his religious belief that transfusions are wrong.
The belief about transfusions stems from Bible passages in which Israelites are instructed not to eat the blood of animals. Jehovah's Witnesses take that to mean they can't allow the blood of any animals - including humans - directly into their bodies.
The girl received her first blood transfusions Tuesday at the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary.
"My daughter is feeling much better. There's a big difference (in her condition)," he said.
Mark Kastner, spokesman for Alberta Children's Services, said the province stepped in because officials were told the girl needed the blood transfusions.
"We'll be working with the doctors with whatever her needs are, as long as we have guardianship," Kastner said.
Hospital officials said they were unsuccessful in their worldwide search for other possible treatments for the girl's acute myeloid leukemia.
According to doctors, the girl requires an amply supply of new blood for her chemotherapy treatments.
The girl's Ontario lawyer, David Gnam, works for the Jehovah's Witnesses head office in Georgetown, Ont.
In 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the state has the right to intervene in a parent's decision to stop a blood transfusion for a child based on religious beliefs.
Kastner said there have been three similar Alberta cases in the last two years, one in Edmonton and two in Calgary, in which the province stepped in to get temporary custody of children whose Jehovah's Witness parents wouldn't allow blood transfusions for religious reasons.
"In all of those cases we were awarded temporary custody so that we could allow medical intervention to occur," he said.
There are 110,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada.
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