ExJW Dad Sues Watchtower Over Deception Causing Murder

by oneofmany 16 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  oneofmany

  Dead girl's dad sues Jehovah's Witnesses BY BILL GRAVELANDCANADIAN PRESS ? A Calgary man suing the Jehovah's Witnesses, claiming they contributed to his daughter's death by encouraging her to avoid life-saving blood transfusions, said today his lawsuit is for her and for his family. "The Jehovah's Witness church stole away my family, friends and 20 years of my life," Lawrence Hughes said outside 's Court of Queen's Bench, where he filed the lawsuit. "I paid a high price to give my daughter a chance to live. "This lawsuit is for and if 's listening, I want her to know I love her," he added as he choked back tears. Bethany Hughes died at age 17 on , after being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer seven months earlier. In his statement of claim, Hughes says his former wife Arliss Hughes and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society ? the organization that represents the Jehovah's Witness religion ? "overtly influenced to believe that blood transfusions were wrong and would not help cure her cancer." The lawsuit also alleges "the defendants committed the (civil wrongs) of deceit and undue influence, all of which contributed to and led to the circumstances causing the death of ." 's illness and death tore the family apart and renewed public debate over how to determine when a child should be able to dictate his or her own medical care. When was diagnosed with leukemia at age 16, Lawrence Hughes split with the Jehovah's Witnesses and his wife over her treatment. He said the transfusions should be undertaken if that was the only way to save her. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that it's against God's wishes for one person to take blood from another. The fight over 's care was bitter. The government stepped in and won temporary custody of her and against her wishes she was given 38 transfusions until they were deemed ineffective. She died less than two months later. Lawyers for the Jehovah's Witnesses fought in court for the teen's right to decide her treatment. The Charter of Rights allows those 18 and older to decide. Medical ethics dictate that all mature children should be allowed to decide unless their competence has been compromised. Even though five pediatricians and psychiatrists found to be mature enough to decide her own treatment, the courts ruled she was pressured by her religion and didn't have a free, informed will. The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal. The statement of claim, which contains allegations yet to be proven in court, said was encouraged to not question her beliefs during prayer services held in her hospital room. At one point, said the document, Arliss Hughes tried to pull intravenous lines from 's arm. "These defendants unduly influenced Bethany to prevent her from questioning her belief system ? that it was against God's law to take a blood transfusion and that if she did, she would be eternally damned by God and not survive Armageddon," reads the statement. The lawsuit names lawyers David Gnam and Shane Brady as defendants. Brady, reached today at his office in , Ont., said the allegations have already been raised in the Hughes' divorce proceedings. "Mr. Hughes is entitled to his day in court. I don't say he shouldn't have his day in court but he's already had his day," he said. Lawrence Hughes, who brought his family to from their home in , Ont., in the late 1990s, said that because of the dispute, he has been shunned by his family and the Jehovah's Witness community. He said he hopes his lawsuit will help others. "I just want to stop the deaths of innocent people and hopefully to prevent my (other) daughters from dying as well." He is also suing the Cross Cancer Institute in . After the transfusions were stopped and was released from the government's care, Hughes said the mother and the Jehovah's Witnesses secretly took her to the Cross Cancer Institute, where she was given treatment that didn't include transfusions. By keeping him in the dark, said Hughes in the statement, they prevented him from taking steps to get her treatment that may have helped save her.
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  ohiocowboy

  I am glad to see that this is getting a lot of coverage! Maybe more people will start to question the teachings and practices of the JW cult. I really hope the Dad wins for his own piece of mind, and I hope the WT gets hit in the pocketbook big time.
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  SAHS

  My heart goes out to Lawrence Hughes. He is in an awkward and frustrating situation. At the very least, he can take solace in the fact that he is actively doing something positive in the fight for justice.

  Some may argue that there was no guarantee that his daughter Bethany would have survived with or without blood. Who knows. (I am not a doctor or familiar with all the details.) However, it would seem that denial of blood in this case denied Bethany of a proper fighting chance of survival. For those who would support the argument that there was no guarantee one way or the other, consider this:

  If any parent deliberately put a bullet in only one of the chambers of a six-shooter revolver, pointed it at their child?s head, and pulled the trigger in a ?game? of Russian roulette, how do you think such a parent would be viewed? (Not too well, I would imagine!) What if the parent simply allowed or encouraged someone else to do this to their child? Would it make a difference? The parent could say, ?Well, it?s only a bullet in one of the chambers. That?s only a one-in-six chance of harm.?

  Now, I don?t know what the odds were in Bethany?s case, but let?s say (hypothetically) that there was even a 5/6 chance that she would die regardless of any decision?that would mean that flatly denying blood would have arbitrarily prevented a 1/6 chance that blood might have saved her. I?m sure that anyone would say that flatly denying a 1/6, or even 1/100 for that matter, chance of survival from a standard recommended medical procedure would be illogical. (I?m sure her odds with immediate blood therapy would have been much better than that.)

  Of course, considering the very tenuous reasoning of the WT in coldly applying this directive from the ancient Jewish Mosaic Law to medical emergencies involving innocent children, it is clear that the WT demanding that parents deny their minor children of blood in any and all circumstances is not just illogical?it?s totally unacceptable!

  ?SAHS
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  Joker10

  Transfusion lawsuit panned

  Jehovah's Witness members claim wrongful death allegations redundant By KEVIN MARTIN, CALGARY SUN

  Shunned Jehovah's Witness Lawrence Hughes' lawsuit against the church is doomed to fail, a lawyer for the denomination and one of the defendants suggested yesterday. Shane Brady, who helped fight against forced blood transfusions for Calgary teen Bethany Hughes, said the issues raised in the lawsuit have already been dealt with.

  "He's entitled to his day in court, but he's already had his day in court," said Brady, of Hughes' two-year fight against his ex-wife and his former church.

  "Every one of these issues was raised and decided," said Brady, from his Georgetown, Ont., office.

  "Mr. Hughes raised these same arguments in the child welfare matter and then he recycled them in the divorce matter."

  Brady acted for Bethany's mother, Arliss, in both her fight against the forced blood transfusions -- which violate Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs -- and her later divorce from Hughes.

  Hughes filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday claiming Jehovah's Witness members, including the mom and Brady, pressured the teen to fight transfusions.

  The girl, then 16, was diagnosed Feb. 13, 2002, with acute myeloid leukemia.

  When the mother refused to consent to transfusions as part of Bethany's treatment, a court order was granted allowing doctors to proceed.

  Hughes lawsuit alleges that after Bethany was released from hospital in Calgary, she was taken to Edmonton where alternative treatments were employed.

  The claim says church members used the fear of damnation in Armageddon to influence Bethany not to question her beliefs and seek transfusions.

  She died from congestive heart failure Sept. 5, 2002.

  The lawsuit on behalf of her estate seeks damages of almost $1 million.

  Lawyer Vaughn Marshall, who acts for Hughes in the latest litigation, said the issue of whether someone should be held accountable for Bethany's death has not been disputed.

  "It gives the court the final word on giving Bethany a voice as to the circumstances ... that led to her death," Marshall said.

  "When all is said and done in this matter, the court will speak for Bethany when Bethany couldn't speak for herself."
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  Undaunted Danny

  Life goes cheap in the new world $ociety.

  I know of HUNDREDS of PREMATURE DEATHS( read mass murder),many of my own JW family members as i am 3rd generation exjw.

  PREMATURE DEATHS attributed directly to Watchtower willful negligence and blatant lies.

  EVERYBODY KNOWS IT! Especially the empaneled jury pools who won't be WTS$ advocates.Read his story in the Maine Times [text version]

  Reporter Q: When I was working as a visiting nurse, I took care of a guy with uncontrolled diabetes, and it was killing him. He was a Jehovah's Witness, and he told me it didn't really matter whether he controlled his disease because his religion taught him that everything's just temporary anyway.

  I never saw anybody living in such complete poverty, he couldn't afford the food or medicine he needed, and he refused to accept any kind of assistance. But he had this stack of new books he had bought from the church. He was a man without education or sophistication.

  Danny's A: That's another part of the cult dynamic: They exploit minorities and ignorance...]

  Say's all doesn't it.

  I now have a colostomy bag from a total proctocolectomy as a result of 28 years of unrelenting uncontrolled severe ulcerative colitis(1970-1998).

  The disease was mismanaged as a default of Watchtower LIES.The 1975 fiasco failure especially.

  
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  johnny cip

  my dad a jw refused medical help for about 3 years 1992-95 @ he lived sitting on the toilet. there was obviously some thing wrong big time. he kept talking about the generation of 1914 . he tried a few quack cures. finally he went to the doctor. cancer of the colon. he could have had it fixed easy if he didn't6 wait so long and colon cancer runs in my family. well they cut out his whole butt and has the bag and is luck to be alive. and he thanks jehovah. lol . all i can think is what a jack ass he was , thinking jehovah was going to cure him. he's lucky the doctors fixed him up. john
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  Uzzah

  Thank you Shane Brady for demonstrating what a loving example you are as a Christian elder.
  
  Couldn't you just feel the warmth and caring in his comments.
  
  GAG
  
  Uzzah
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  XQsThaiPoes

  Hello she had 38 tranfussions people!

  Why is he sueing?

  I know the whole blood issue. It went as planed. The WT got their PR time she got her blood. I think his problem is he is sueing because he figured out the scam about the blood issue. That it is more of a PR tool than a religious belief.
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  SAHS

  she had 38 tranfussions people

  Probably too little, too late.

  ?SAHS
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  Jahna

  I read the story over the weekend and asked myself, "I wonder if the change in the blood doctrine (ie blood fractions) will have any effect on the court case?. As far as I understand, they were not allowed in 2002, but are allowed today. Jahna