Officials fear for teen Girl, 14, flees B.C. to avoid blood transfusion
| Jack Keating | |
| The Province; with a file from Canadian Press |
May 2, 2005
The bitter fight over a blood transfusion for a 14-year-old Jehovah's Witness Okanagan girl is heading to a Toronto courtroom.
The girl has gone into hiding with her family in Ontario to avoid blood transfusions that a B.C. court ordered should be given if medically necessary.
Jeremy Berland, B.C.'s director of child welfare, will apply to the courts to authorize the "safety net" of transfusions if needed in her cancer treatment.
Berland is scheduled to appear in Ontario Superior Court tomorrow to force the girl to have the treatment, including blood transfusions, if required.
"Our primary and principle concern has got to be for the child's health and safety," Berland said yesterday.
"Life and safety are at stake here and we need to make sure that she is going to be safe," said Theresa Lumsdon, spokeswoman for the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development. "We're definitely worried."
Heath-care officials, the court, and police don't know where the teen is staying.
"We are using all of the resources available to us to make sure that we know where she is, and that she is safe," said Berland. "We have asked for the assistance of the Toronto police."
Police and health-care officials are searching for the girl in the Toronto area.
Berland said he couldn't comment on reports she is in hiding with fellow Jehovah's Witnesses in the Toronto area.
Family lawyer Shane Brady said the girl and her 43-year-old dad and 41-year-old mom will be in court tomorrow.
The girl's name and her hometown cannot be revealed due to a court-ordered publication ban.
The teen was taken to Ontario by her parents after an April 11 B.C. Supreme Court ruling said she couldn't refuse treatment despite her religious beliefs.
The girl and her parents argued the transfusions would be a "violation of the Biblical command to abstain from blood."
The B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development was granted custody of the girl last week.
"We obtained an ex parte order in B.C. Supreme Court last week placing her in our custody," said Berland.
B.C. officials are not necessarily going to insist that the teen return to B.C.
"What we want to do is to make sure that she gets the health care that she needs," he said. "And we want to make sure that happens in a way that is consistent with the best medical practice for the kind of illness that she has."
The girl's hemoglobin fell to "well below" levels where a blood transfusion is usually given, said Boyd.
Boyd said provincial laws allow courts to protect the rights of children in need of medical care.
"All children are entitled to be protected from abuse and harm . . . the ultimate threat of harm would be death," said Boyd. "Ultimately, her religious beliefs don't override her right to life and death."
The girl, who was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour on her right leg, has already undergone several rounds of chemotherapy.
The girl and her family were at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children but were urged to return to B.C. to continue the prescribed care. The teen was last seen with her parents on Friday.
A spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses in B.C. supports the girl's decision not to have transfusions.
"Every individual should have the right to decide what they do with their own personal health and circumstances revolving around their health," said Raymond Busby, an elder in Burnaby's Capital Hill Jehovah's Witnesses congregation.
"The Bible has clear standards that we are not to take blood as Christians. And so we adhere to that standard."
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