Bethany's battle rages a year after her death
Parents fight for custody of little sister
http://www.canada.com/calgary/news/story.asp?id=4DAB335E-F734-40DD-A667-D5CC211342FD
Kerry Williamson
Calgary Herald
Thursday, July 17, 2003
When Bethany Hughes was buried at a north Calgary cemetery after her tough fight with cancer, her parents came together in tears and hugged beside her casket.
Close to a year later, however, and the once-close couple is again fighting through the courts, that moment amidst the grief of a funeral light years away.
"I wish we didn't have to do this," says Lawrence Hughes, Bethany's father, who fought hard to have his daughter undergo blood transfusions against her will and the will of her mother, Arliss. "It's not easy. But if this fight saves one life, it's worth it."
Hughes and his estranged wife will again face off in Calgary's Court of Queen's Bench this afternoon, a continuation of a bitter divorce and custody case sparked by the death of 17-year-old Bethany last September.
The Calgary teen died of acute myeloid leukemia while seeking alternative treatment at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute.
She made headlines nationwide after refusing to undergo blood transfusions because of her strong Jehovah's Witnesses faith.
Her father went against her and his wife, convincing the province to force his daughter to undergo 38 transfusions.
Bethany -- who used the name Mia in the media to protect her identity -- fought the protection order, claiming it was her right as a mature person to make her own medical decisions.
Bethany Hughes even tried to pull the medical tubes from her arms while bedridden at Alberta Children's Hospital.
Doctors who first determined she would die without transfusions eventually decided that she was too sick to face further chemotherapy sessions and gave up their custody of Bethany. She died Sept. 5, 2002.
Lawrence Hughes claims the Watchtower Society and his wife played a major role in his daughter's death by fighting the transfusions, and filed a scathing 17-point notice of motion with the court in April.
He is now fighting for sole custody of the couple's youngest daughter, 16-year-old Cassandra, who lives with her mother and is also a Jehovah's Witness. He claims he has only been allowed to see Cassandra three times since last summer, and is seeking to have her completely free of any influence of her faith and the society, which he believes has brainwashed his daughter and wife.
He is also calling on Arliss Hughes to be charged with criminal negligence over the death of Bethany, and for his wife and Cassandra to take "regular intense therapy sessions with a cult deprogrammer."
"I'm concerned about my daughter, what she's being taught and whether she will be allowed to get medical treatment if she falls sick," says Hughes.
"I want to be a part of her life. I want to see my daughter. I don't think it is right that I have to fight a billion-dollar corporation so I can see my daughter. I don't think that makes sense."
Shane Brady, the Toronto-based lawyer for Arliss Hughes, says Lawrence Hughes' allegations are "outrageous."
"He's saying that Arliss basically killed Bethany because she was so irresponsible, and because of that she shouldn't have custody of Cassandra," says Brady, whom Hughes also wants off the case because of his connections to the Watchtower Society.
"There's also some outrageous things being said about the religious community."
Arliss Hughes also wishes the court cases were over. She rigorously defends herself -- and her faith -- against any accusations that she put Bethany's health at risk, and believes Cassandra should be left to decide whom she lives with.
"I really don't see what this (Hughes' allegations) has to do with a divorce. This is about difference between a husband and a wife. In that sense, I think the children should be left out of it," she says. "This is about a couple who don't agree anymore, but who still love their children, and the children shouldn't be put in the middle."
Arliss Hughes says she did all she could to help Bethany. "I did everything she asked of me. We tried everything we could think of to get the doctors to take care of Bethany," she says.
As the anniversary of her death edges closer, the estranged couple do have one thing in common: the thoughts and memories of Bethany.
"To me, it's the little things that I think of, that remind me of her," says Arliss.
"I think of her every day," says Lawrence.