Shunned Father's daughter dies

Joyzabel

www.canoe.ca

Thursday, September 5, 2002

Jehovah's Witness teen dies
By CAROL HARRINGTON -- The Canadian Press

CALGARY -- A 17-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl who received dozens of blood transfusions against her wishes died Thursday of leukemia in an Edmonton hospital.

Since the Calgary teen was diagnosed last February with acute leukemia, Bethany Hughes fought a very public court battle that split her parents and pitted the teen against the Alberta government.

"I wasn't expecting her to die," said Stan Hill, a family friend and an elder at Bethany's Calgary church. "I'm just distraught."

"She put up a grand fight and she almost beat the cancer," said Hill, who visited Bethany in hospital last week.

The teen died at 1:30 p.m. MDT, after taking a turn for the worst the previous day, Hill said.

Shane Brady, a lawyer for the girl's mother said his client did not want to talk to media.

"The Hughes family is grieving the loss of Bethany, a courageous young woman who fought her disease with dignity to the end," Brady said in a news release.

Throughout court proceedings, judges consistently went against the findings of psychiatrists and bioethicists who argued that Hughes was a mature minor. The courts awarded the province custody under Alberta Child Welfare Act.

The courts concluded that the teen was pressured by her religion to refuse the transfusions and that she didn't have a free, informed will. Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that the Bible states in Acts 15:28 that blood transfusions are against God's wishes.

Doctors gave Hughes a 40 to 50 per cent chance of beating the cancer with intensive chemotherapy and blood transfusions. But after four months of treatment, cancerous legions appeared on her back and doctors held out little hope that she would survive.

During many transfusions, Hughes struggled with hospital staff, who held her down in her hospital bed.

She originally told court that her refusal to accept blood was for religious reasons. But after months in hospital, she said it became a fight for teenagers' rights to choose medical treatment.

"My case is about rights," she told a provincial court in July. "We live in this great country called Canada -- a country where all its citizens can live the way they want to, go where they want to.

"They have freedoms -- the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. . . . But if you are under 18 you don't fall under citizen any more. They take it away."

Shortly after Hughes was diagnosed with leukemia, her father decided to go against the Witness faith by consenting to the blood transfusions.

Hughes turned cold and later angry toward him for not taking her part against the transfusions, her father said.

Her parents separated and Bethany, her 14-year-old sister Cassandra and her mother moved away from the family home into a three-bedroom apartment in June.

Even though he was ostracized by the Jehovah's Witnesses and his wife and daughters, Lawrence Hughes said he has no regrets.

"I did what I think any decent father would do -- try to save their child's life at any cost," he said.

"I'd do it all over again. I have no guilt whatsoever nor any regrets."

The family had moved from Belleville, Ont., to Calgary three years ago.

Many bioethicists say this case is similar to that of Tyrell Dueck, a 13-year-old Saskatoon boy whose Christian fundamentalist family battled in 1999 with doctors and Social Services over whether the boy was capable of deciding his own medical treatment for cancer.

Dueck and his family opted for prayers, herbal remedies and alternative treatments at a Mexican clinic, rather than undergoing the recommended conventional treatment. He died after the cancer spread to his lungs.

In the Hughes and Dueck cases, judges ruled that the teen's parents and religious upbringing skewed their ability to make reasonable, sound medical decisions.

And in both cases, the provincial governments dropped custody of the teens when the cancer returned and doctors said death was imminent.

Farkel

No doubt the braindead dub parent will sue the hospitals and everyone else who tried to hard to save her life for huge bucks, because that parent wanted to kill her the Watchtower Way(tm) and didn't get that chance.

Farkel

Satanus

She originally told court that her refusal to accept blood was for religious reasons. But after months in hospital, she said it became a fight for teenagers' rights to choose medical treatment.

By changing the issue from adherence to their blood law, to the rights of minors, the greasey wt has shown it's hypocracy once again. They have no respect for the rights of the thousands of teenagers that they disfellowship every year for exercising their rights in minor matters. Through this violence against teenagers, they also drive deep wedges into their respective families, often ripping them apart.

SS

minimus

Any suit will be in conjunction with the Christian Congregation.

Dutchie

It's just so, so sad!

Nathan Natas

Listen - you can hear the champagne glasses clinking in Brooklyn!

Reborn2002

I guess she will get that Awake cover now huh?

Another child dies and another family divided.

Simon you may warn me or boot me.. but

FUCK the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Mr. Lawrence Hughes aka Shunned Father, if you ever read this, you did the right thing. You acted out of love and the desire for your daughter to live. Never allow anyone to make you feel guilty for that.

My condolences and prayers go out to you in this tragic time and loss.

Edited by - Reborn2002 on 5 September 2002 23:34:26

Quotes

I agree with Reborn's sentiments. Mr Hughes, my most sincere condolences for you. You took a stand in favour of medical treatment, at the expense of misguided religious fundamentalism. Religious issues aside, I think everyone, on both sides of the fence, wanted your daughter to enjoy a full recovery. I can not begin to imagine your loss and pain at this time.

I hope that this story does not become twisted into another "anti-blood" example, i.e. "If she had not been given blood, she would be alive today."

I was struck by this part of the CP story:

Many bioethicists say this case is similar to that of Tyrell Dueck, a 13-year-old Saskatoon boy whose Christian fundamentalist family battled in 1999 with doctors and Social Services over whether the boy was capable of deciding his own medical treatment for cancer.

Dueck and his family opted for prayers, herbal remedies and alternative treatments at a Mexican clinic, rather than undergoing the recommended conventional treatment. He died after the cancer spread to his lungs.

In the Hughes and Dueck cases, judges ruled that the teen's parents and religious upbringing skewed their ability to make reasonable, sound medical decisions.

And in both cases, the provincial governments dropped custody of the teens when the cancer returned and doctors said death was imminent.

The amazing thing is: JWs would see this case as a ridiculous, misguided attempt based on bizarre scriptural interpretation and fallacious logic. And they would be correct. But as the saying goes, "remove the log from your own eye, that you may seen clearly to help your brother remove the splinter from his eye.

LB

Yeah we all agree with Reborns sentiment on this one. Poor girl.

I'll repeat what I've always said on this topic. That girls mother would have taken a bullet to save her daughers life. But if she gave blood to save her daughter only she would have been considered spiritually dead (by JW's), not her daughter. So her love had limits. She was willing to give up her physical life for her daughter but not her spiritual life.

Pretty damn selfish.

bluesapphire

The mother herself gave her daughter blood via the umbilical chord. But she wasn't allowed to give her blood after the child was out of the womb. Seems that as long as God was in control and the child is in the womb, things are okay. They went down-hill once the Watchtower(God) came into control.

Shunned Father's daughter dies

Share this