Blood transfusion ordered for Jehovah's Witness boy http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-07-23-tranfusion-jw_x.htm FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — A judge has overruled a mother's religious objections and ordered a blood transfusion for a 12-year-old boy who is battling sickle cell anemia. The boy's mother, Leslie Raymond, is a Jehovah's Witness — a religion that believes the Bible forbids transfusions. The judge said Friday the mother's beliefs posed a threat to Appollo Raymond, who doctors said could die from complications of the disease without the transfusion. "This is a very difficult balancing act for the court," Judge James Seals said. "I try to give every deference to the religious preference of the parent, but the life interest of the child supersedes the liberty interest of the parent." Appollo Raymond was in serious condition at Children's Hospital. It was unknown Saturday if the transfusion had actually occurred. Sickle cell disease, of which sickle cell anemia is one form, is an inherited blood disorder that affects red blood cells, which sometimes become sickle- or crescent-shaped and cannot easily pass through small blood vessels. Judy Flowers, a medical social worker, said Leslie Raymond is "a wonderful person and a good mother." "I'm sorry it had to come to this," Flowers said. Courts across the country have firmly established a state's right to intervene to save a child. In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled adults cannot use religious beliefs to deny their children health care.
Blood transfusion ordered for JW boy in Florida
by Gerard 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Gerard
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carla
I thought jw's made certain allowances for certain diseases? Aren't hemopheliacs allowed blood or parts anyway? Why should sickle cell anemia be any different? I'm sure this has been covered. Not up on blood rules lately. I know I shouldn't be lazy, go to AJWRB and look for myself. carla
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Elsewhere
I thought jw's made certain allowances for certain diseases? Aren't hemopheliacs allowed blood or parts anyway? Why should sickle cell anemia be any different? I'm sure this has been covered. Not up on blood rules lately. I know I shouldn't be lazy, go to AJWRB and look for myself. carla
It is true that, for legal reasons (avoiding lawsuits), accepting blood products is no longer a disfellowshipping offence. It has been changed so that anyone who does accept blood products are considered to have "disassociated themselves by their actions".
The only thing that is a "conscience matter" is whether or not one will accept blood fractions. Things that are not allowed are blood and the primary components of blood such as Red Cells, Plasma, Platelets, and White Blood Cells.
One may also use blood-recycling technology such as heart bypass and blood recovery devices that remove blood from a surgical site clean the blood and then return the blood to the body.
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kid-A
That a mother would let her child die at the hands of a group of 99 year old farts sitting on their thrones in brooklyn just attests to the incredible power of brain washing cults.
Good to see that sometimes the legal system DOES work...
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Gerard
Sicle cell anemia has no cure. The bases of sicke cell anemia is that under certain circumstances such as low oxygen, his hemoglobin located inside his red blood cells make long and sharp strands, deforming his red blood cells from the inside and making them hard, stiky and crescent shaped.
Sickle cell ----- - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Normal cell
This can cause pain, organ damage, and a low blood count or anemia. Every now and then he will need packed red blood cells, not fractions.
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Elsewhere
Great pics!
You can see in the lower pic how the "Sickle Cells" form a "log jam" at the blood vessel "intersections". This causes blood flow to be blocked, which causes damage and substantial pain because the organs and tissues down-stream literally start to die from lack of blood.
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Buster
I've never heard of a court upholding the parent's right to decide. The doctors always get the ruling.