by SHUNNED FATHER 5 Replies latest jw friends
The Watchtower lawyer Shane Brady is at the Court of Appeals today concerning a 15 year old JW girl who needed a blood transfusion. If you see any news reports about that will you please post it on this thread. I expect that the newspapers would publish a story for Friday's papers. Thanks.
Lawrence
bttt
Apparently, there's something in the Free Press today. I'll see if I can get ahold of a copy.
Damn, I'm quick, LOL!
Winnipeg Free Press article: Aug 8, 2006
Teen refusing blood transfusion
Family argues 15 old enough to make call
Thu Aug 10 2006
By Kevin Rollason
A Winnipeg teenager with Crohn's disease is at the centre of a legal fight over blood transfusions between Child and Family Services and her family.
The 15-year-old teenager -- who cannot be identified because the court case is a CFS matter -- will be incourt today trying to ensure her appeal next month of a lower court ruling will be heard without delay.
Shane Brady, a Toronto-based lawyer with the Watchtower Society of Canada, who is representing the teen and her mother and father, said the teen's battle is not about religion. The Watchtower Society represents the Jehovah's Witness religion.
"The whole issue is whether a capable person of any age can make their own medical decisions without state interference," Brady said yesterday.
"Our argument is she is making reasonable medical decisions. She is quite intelligent and she has skipped a grade. Even though her peers are a year older than she is, she is one of the top students in her class.
"We're not dealing with a child. She's a young woman capable of making her own treatment decisions."
Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to receive blood transfusions because they have interpreted a passage in the Bible as forbidding the ingestion of blood.
Click here to find out more!
<
http://ad.doubleclick.net/click;h=v7/343d/0/0/%2a/g;44306;0-0;0;13232430;255-0/0;0/0/0;;%7Esscs=%3f >Crohn's disease is a chronic illness that can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract from mouth to bowel. There is no known cure, but symptoms of the disease can be relieved by drugs or surgery.
Brady said the teenager is currently managing the disease without a blood transfusion.
"This is not cancer," he said.
"She is certainly well informed with how her illness can be managed."
Headlines
In 2002, 17-year-old Calgary teen Bethany Hughes made headlines when she refused a blood transfusion to battle a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. A devout Jehovah Witness, Bethany was eventually forced by the province to undergo treatment for her illness and was sedated and physically restrained for the procedure.
Although she died six months after her treatment, Bethany's father, Lawrence Hughes, is now suing the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society claiming they were responsible for her death.
The Winnipeg teenager who will be in court today is now 15, but was 14 on April 16 when Mr. Justice Morris Kaufman, of Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, granted an order allowing doctors to give her "blood transfusions and/or blood products to (the child) as they deem medically necessary without the consent of (the child) or her parents."
The girl and her parents appealed that decision and the matter is scheduled to be heard by the province's highest court, the Manitoba Court of Appeal, next month.
But Brady said while the family will ask the courts to continue with the appeal, he expects the lawyer for CFS will ask for a delay.
A lawyer for CFS could not be reached for comment.
In Canada, there are 184,000 members of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
"Our argument is she is making reasonable medical decisions. She is quite intelligent and she has skipped a grade. Even though her peers are a year older than she is, she is one of the top students in her class. "We're not dealing with a child. She's a young woman capable of making her own treatment decisions."
But would they defend her right to make her own treatment decisions with respect to something like using birth control, or having an abortion, or accepting a blood transfusion? Or would they DF/DA her so fast that her head would spin?
Bump
There's nothing in today's paper. I wonder how it went?
