JWs sued by Calgary father over cancer death of teen daughter

by indoubt 3 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  indoubt
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  Sassy

  I remember this case.. it was very messy and emotions very high on both sides. I was an active believing JW at the time. Bethany actually joined a Pro JW board I was on (Sister Soup) where many of the sisters created squares for a quilt (including myself) for her. I feel bad now thinking about her posts of her difficult road of the fight between dad and her trying to be obedient. It was so emotionally hard on her. Its all so sad.. I look at it all so different now than I did back then.
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  Quotes

  I was just about to post this item.
  
  There is more at CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/08/27/blood_transfusion040827.html
  
  They have an audio clip from the CBC National Radio News, too.
  
  Here is the story as posted at the above mentioned link:
  
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  Father sues Jehovah's Witnesses, hospital over teen's death
  Last Updated Fri, 27 Aug 2004 18:50:42 EDT
  
  CALGARY - A Calgary man who waged a bitter battle to have his daughter receive a blood transfusion ? against her wishes ? is suing his former church bretheren and doctors at an Edmonton cancer treatment centre.
  
  * FROM JULY 11, 2002: Top court refuses to hear dying teen's case
  
  "I was B's father. I had a right to see my dying daughter. I had a right to know what her treatment was," Lawrence Hughes, painting his case as David vs Goliath, said Friday. "I had a right to tell her I loved her. If I had been with her, she might still be alive today."
  
  Bethany Hughes died of leukemia two years ago, after making a public stand for her Jehovah's Witness faith, which prohibits blood transfusions.
  
  Her father broke with his church and his wife over treatment for the 16-year-old.
  
  He fought a lengthy court battle to have Bethany given blood, which she finally received after being made a temporary ward of the province.
  
  Now he is suing his former wife, the Watchtower Society of Canada ? the organization that represents the Jehovah's Witness religion ? and doctors at the Cross Cancer Institute.
  
  In a statement of claim, Hughes alleges that Bethany's mother and other Jehovah's Witnesses misled his daughter about the merits of blood transfusions.
  RELATED
  * Coverage from CBC Calgary
  
  He claims they exerted undue influence by telling the teen she would be eternally damned if she agreed to the transfusions.
  
  Hughes also says in his statement of claim that they moved Bethany to the Cross Cancer Institute, which he says gave her an alternate treatment without proper consent.
  
  Bethany Hughes was moved to the new hospital after being discharged from the Alberta Children's Hospital in July 2002, where doctors said she was too ill to continue being treated with chemotherapy and transfusions.
  
  She died less than two months later, just after turning 17.
  
  "It makes me sick today to think that Bethany would still be alive if she had received the proper treatment and blood transfusion," he said. "What they did was immoral, criminal, evil."
  
  None of the statements in the claim have been proven in court. Those mentioned in the lawsuit ? some of whom haven't been served notice ? weren't prepared to comment.
  But Shane Brady, a lawyer with the Watchtower Society, said Hughes has made similar claims before, notably during his divorce.
  
  "Hughes is entitled to his day in court, as anyone is, but he's already had his day," Brady said.
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  There is more at the CBC Calgary web site: http://calgary.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ca_hughes20040827