I haven't been on this forum for several years, nothing personal. The reason I am here is that I have been told that this forum is very active, and that is what I am looking for.
There was a case in the news here in Washington State about a 14 year old boy that died due to his decision to refuse a blood transfusion. this of course was the wishes of his aunt that gained guardianship over him due to his parents drug problems four years earlier. This hit the local news and the same day that a Judge ruled him mature enough to make the decision he died. The night that it hit the news I logged on to the King5 news blog covering the report and sure enough the local congregation was already doing damage control. I contacted the board that Ronnie Steele runs and the response from everybody there was awesome. Well it has been several weeks since he died and it is a story that just won't go away.
It turns out that Dennis had a secret girl friend, and she was on the television report and read a poem that Dennis had written. She has been active in getting the State legislators involved in an attempt to raise awareness to the problem. She has now been tntimidated by the school principal. She was sent home the day after his death, was not allowed to read the poem that was Dennis thoughts, and wasn;t even allowed to tell the kids about a memorial service that was being held for Dennis. Apparently the school prindipal has blamed her for the television coverage and even the massive posts on the news Blog.
Normally those blogs get a handfull of posts, this blog is up to 557 and still going.
Here is a link to the blog, and if you can spare a moment please let your thougts be heard on this. There is a lot involved here, Childrens Hospital in Seattle has a lot of clout in issues regarding religion and medicine. I have been debating with them since this hit the news.with their media specialist (applolgist) and the doctor that influenced the Judge in the matter is Dr. Douglas Diekema,apparently he is very well known, and was very key in a bio ethics study that Childrens based their opinion to decide that this 14 year old child was mature enough to refuse the transfusion and die as a result. If you google the doctors name you will also see that he was at the base of a very controversial ruling that a severly retarded child could be given drugs to stunt her growth so as not to be a burden on her parents. This decision sparked protest nation wide and even in the world press.
I know that many here have lost loved ones to this very dangerous cult as have I. I am tired to sitting by and just watching this pass me by. If you are inclined to do so please just take a moment and post your thoughts on this blog, one reason is to protest the decision to let this child die and also to support a little girl that has bravely taken steps to be proactive. She is not a JW or even related to any, she just wants to make a difference so that this will someday end entirely.
http://blogs.king5.com/archives/2007/11/a_matter_of_fai.html
Thank you in advance,
Elton
