MAY 30, 2005
VOLUME 2 NO. 10
 

BC teen ordered to get treatment
despite religious objections


A heated debate that started back in BC courts in April has seemingly come to an end. The 14-year-old girl from Vernon, in the Okanagan Valley, who originally refused to have a blood transfusion because of her religious beliefs, is back home and set to undergo treatment.

The girl — who cannot be identified because of a publication ban — has bone cancer. Earlier this year she had a cancerous tumour removed from her leg, followed by three months of chemo. The chemotherapy not only destroyed the cancer cells but also affected normal cells that grow rapidly like red blood cells. In many cases this prompts doctors to give a patient a blood transfusion; a treatment the girl refused because it goes against her beliefs as a Jehovah's Witness.

This is where the BC government stepped in. On April 11, a provincial Supreme Court judge ordered her to receive transfusions, BC law states that only those over 19 can refuse medical treatment. The teen, with the support of her church and family, appealed the Court ruling. Once again, BC courts ruled against the teen, even though she testified that a blood transfusion would be a violation of her person tantamount to sexual assault. Nevertheless, the presiding judge Madam Justice Mary Boyd said that the court ruling was not a violation under the Charter of Rights and that freedom of religion is not absolute. The girl was placed under BC government guardianship to protect her right to life.

COURT HOPPING
The girl and her family fled BC after the second ruling. They then met with doctors in Toronto at Sick Children's Hospital to see if a treatment without transfusion could be offered. Doctors there also said that they would need the option of a transfusion if they were to treat her.

Meanwhile, BC officials got word that the teen was in Ontario and obtained a ruling to put her in sole custody of the provincial child welfare and a separate ruling that would let police apprehend her.

The teen then appealed to the Ontario Supreme Court to have all the BC rulings revoked — including the treatment ruling. Earlier this month, Ontario Supreme Court Judge Victor Paisley ordered the teen to comply with the BC Court decision. Police apprehended her on her way out of the courtroom.

The case has reopened the debate of the age of consent for medical treatment. Last year saw a similar case in Alberta involving a 16-year-old Jehovah's Witness girl stricken with leukemia. This patient also refused a blood transfusion. The girl's father broke with his church and family and fought a lengthy court battle to compel the girl to receive the treatment. The father prevailed and the girl did receive blood transfusions, but sadly it didn't prevent her dying from leukemia. For more on this issue see the editorial "Capacity, not age, should drive consent".

 

 

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