JW infant dies after parents refuse red cells

by Lee Elder 35 Replies latest watchtower medical

  • coffee_black
    coffee_black

    Imagine what these parents will feel when they realize that they have been duped! What an awful price to pay for obeying the dictates of a publishing company. An innocent life stolen.

    How is it that the "symbol of life" is more important than the life?

    Coffee

  • target
    target

    As stated in the news article, adults can make these decisions for themselves, children need to be allowed to grow up to make these decisions for themselves.

    In 1971 I was just starting to study with the JWs when a JW family in the area had triplets that needed blood. Of course they refused. Court ordered was gotten and blood was given to the weakest one, who died because it had taken too long. The JW spin of course was that the one who got blood died and the two who didn't survived.

    The interesting thing is, the two who survived have left the cult some years ago. So now as adults, what would their decisions be if they needed blood?

    Oh, and when I got to know the family some years later, I asked her about it and she said that she had been told she was having twins, so she still had the two so she did not miss the third one. Cold hearted bunch, they are.

    Target

  • Will Power
    Will Power

    I can't get the link to work??

  • Dragonlady76
    Dragonlady76

    This is so inanely stupid. To deny an infant a chance at life over a man made, not religious, point of veiw.

    I don't know if it's just me but I would compare this to abortion in respect to the JW's veiw of abortion. They veiw abortion as wrong because:

    "We cannot make a descision to take human life, only the creator can judge and decide"

    Have these parents not made a decision that has taken/ terminated their baby's life? How is this any diffirent than abortion?

    Dragonlady76

  • blindrzoff
    blindrzoff

    Is there an article we can read ?

  • sf
    sf
    Please pass the word to everyone

    you know in the JW and ex-JW community as well as related medical, ethics, legal, children's rights

    groups.

    Passing around a video is not as easy as it is copying and pasting and emailing verbatim text from a news article. Please provide one as soon as possible and the word WILL get out.

    By the way, hello blindrzoff. Welcome to the forum.

    Thank you, sKally

  • Euphemism
    Euphemism

    For those who can't open the link, I've transcribed it:

    Karen Borta (anchor): Tonight, a local hospital is forced to go to court to provide urgent medical care for a baby.

    Tracy Rowlett (anchor): This case pits religious beliefs against the law, and it all started when twins were born prematurely at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas. When their parents would not consent to life-saving medical treatment, the hospital then went to court. CBS 11's Jack Fink joins us live tonight with the exclusive details. Jack?

    Jack Fink (reporter): Tracy, court documents show the couple would not consent to the treatment because it would violate their religious beliefs. A judge has sided with the hospital and ordered the treatments, but we've learned that one of the twins has since died. Court records show Tara (?) and Embre (?) Speciale were born on Valentine's Day. Each weighed less than two pounds. But the next day, the Baylor Medical Center in Dallas filed a petition in court, asking a judge to intervene. Doctors said the children would likely need a transfusion of red blood cells, which would enable the children's blood to carry sufficient oxygen to sustain life.

    But the baby's parents are Jehovah's Witnesses, and it is against the Jehovah's Witness religion to accept such treatment. Doctors told the judge: "If the blood product treatment is delayed, there is a significant risk of death or serious complications." Thomas Mayo, a professor at SMU and a medical ethicist, couldn't comment on this specific case, but says in general the law supports the hospital's position.

    Thomas Mayo: What they're not entitled to do under the law is to withhold blood transfusions from their minor children.

    Jack Fink: In his order, Judge Robert Frost prevented the babies' parents from disrupting or interfering with the treatment. The Judge also ordered that Baylor Medical Center provide all treatment that is reasonably necessary to stabilize the condition or prevent death.

    The babies' parents didn't return our calls seeking comment, and the hospital declined commenting on the case. Professor Mayo says there is a simple rationale for the law.

    Thomas Mayo: An adult is entitled to make that decision for himself or herself, and that minor children have a legal right to grow into adulthood and make that decision for themselves when they are old enough.

    Jack Fink: Now Jehovah [sic] Witnesses we spoke with say they have a very high regard for life and that they are not anti-medicine. They say they try to find doctors who use treatments other than blood transfusions.

    We're live in Dallas tonight, Jack Fink, CBS 11 News.

  • NewLight2
    NewLight2

    Thank you, Euphemism, for transcribing the video clip for all of us who are unable to watch it on our older computers.

    NewLight2

  • dh
    dh

    the parents should be burried alive.

  • Sweetp0985
    Sweetp0985

    Someone had said it on another thread about a implosion of the borg. I really do believe that IF and thats a big IF they ever admit or weaken the stance even further on the blood issue...People that have lost loved ones due to these issues will totally lose faith unless they are so totally brainwashed that they just take the new light and not even think about their loss......I just feel a storm a' comin really soon....we're just in the quiet part now.....

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