Religions > Atheism > Family's faith, doctors' skills collide in case of critically ill baby
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"johac" |
| Date: |
28 Dec 2007 01:51:13 AM |
| Object: |
Family's faith, doctors' skills collide in case of critically ill baby |
What manner of god or kind of idiotic religion would deny a child
medical attention?
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Family's faith, doctors' skills collide in case of critically ill baby
The Tennessean
Katie Allison Granju, Producer
Last Updated: 12/27/2007 8:04:36 AM
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer - THE TENNESSEAN
When doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center rushed to operate
on a baby born last week with a life-threatening heart condition, they
faced one giant hurdle: the child's parents.
They refused to consent to the surgery, saying it would involve the use
of blood products ? a violation of their religious beliefs as Jehovah's
Witnesses.
The hospital went to court and a Nashville judge ordered the surgery,
along with the use of blood products deemed necessary to save the
child's life, in spite of the parents' belief.
Hospitals and Jehovah's Witnesses say great strides have been made to
understand and accommodate each other, but this case shows that the
conflict between medicine and religion remains.
"It's a scriptural command to abstain from blood," said Fred Haston, a
Jehovah's Witness.
"The reason is that the life of a person is in that blood. We believe
that blood is life. There's no question about it. But we wouldn't use
that life ? in a way that would be in conflict with God's laws."
Haston is chairman of the faith's Hospital Liaison Committee, which
works with doctors to promote surgery that doesn't require blood
transfusions.
There is much more cooperation between hospitals and Jehovah's Witnesses
about that than there used to be, he says.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible forbids them from getting
blood or any of its major components, such as plasma and white or red
blood cells.
But when the girl was born Dec. 18 at the children's hospital, doctors
knew they couldn't get around the blood issue.
The child, identified in court documents as Baby Girl Doe, was born with
a life-threatening congenital heart condition. Doctors wanted to perform
a cardiac catheterization within 48 hours and promised to make their
best effort to avoid using blood products.
But to perform the cardiac surgery, the baby had to be put on a cardiac
bypass pump primed with blood and blood products, an affidavit signed by
Dr. David Parra said. "There are no other alternatives to priming the
by-pass pump in order to perform this surgery," the doctor's statement
said.
Without the surgery, there was an 80% chance the baby would die, Parra
said.
Facing the probability that their little girl might die, the parents
kept their faith, refusing to allow the operation. Davidson County
Chancellor Richard Dinkins ordered doctors to go ahead with surgery.
Medical center officials said federal privacy laws forbid them from
saying how the child is doing and whether she received blood.
The hospital typically has to go to court two or three times a year to
force parents, most of them Jehovah's Witnesses, to allow blood-related
treatment for their children, Vanderbilt spokesman John Howser said.
Sometimes it's a pre-emptive move on the hospital's part in case
complications during a medical procedure require im mediate use of blood
products.
Adults can refuse
Doctors respect religious beliefs that may conflict with medical care,
an ethical adviser to two local hospitals said.
Adults can refuse blood products, and hospitals will honor that, said
Dr. James Sullivan, chairman of the ethical committees for Nashville
General Hospital at Meharry and Centennial Medical Center.
"I know that there have been Jehovah's Witnesses who have been on the
operating table who have died" after their refusal, Sullivan said. But a
child is not old enough to make a decision on her own behalf, he said,
so courts are called on to step in. Sullivan said he would advise
doctors at his hospitals to go to court if faced with such a dilemma.
Despite the court battle, both Vanderbilt officials and Haston, the
liaison committee chairman, said they would continue to work together to
resolve such issues. Jehovah's Witnesses "have no problem with medical
treatment," Haston said. "That's why we take our kids to the doctor."
---
http://www.wbir.com/news/regional/story.aspx?storyid=52836&provider=rss
--
John #1782
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| User: "Michael Gray" |
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| Title: Re: Family's faith, doctors' skills collide in case of critically ill baby |
28 Dec 2007 02:37:04 AM |
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On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:51:13 -0800, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
What manner of god or kind of idiotic religion would deny a child
medical attention?
---
Family's faith, doctors' skills collide in case of critically ill baby
The Tennessean
Katie Allison Granju, Producer
Last Updated: 12/27/2007 8:04:36 AM
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer - THE TENNESSEAN
When doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center rushed to operate
on a baby born last week with a life-threatening heart condition, they
faced one giant hurdle: the child's parents.
They refused to consent to the surgery, saying it would involve the use
of blood products ? a violation of their religious beliefs as Jehovah's
Witnesses.
:
They should be thrown in jail for child abuse.
.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: Family's faith, doctors' skills collide in case of critically ill baby |
29 Dec 2007 01:11:26 AM |
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In article <pcd9n3pk5sp2a3d2j1lpnr94m552d7uf1h@4ax.com>,
Michael Gray <mikegray@newsguy.com> wrote:
On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:51:13 -0800, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote:
What manner of god or kind of idiotic religion would deny a child
medical attention?
---
Family's faith, doctors' skills collide in case of critically ill baby
The Tennessean
Katie Allison Granju, Producer
Last Updated: 12/27/2007 8:04:36 AM
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer - THE TENNESSEAN
When doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center rushed to operate
on a baby born last week with a life-threatening heart condition, they
faced one giant hurdle: the child's parents.
They refused to consent to the surgery, saying it would involve the use
of blood products ? a violation of their religious beliefs as Jehovah's
Witnesses.
:
They should be thrown in jail for child abuse.
In a sane society they would be. I don't think that 'freedom of
expression' allows the right to kill a child.
--
John #1782
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