A Queensland Judge has ruled in favor of allowing a hospital in Brisbane to perform a blood transfusion for a seven-year-old Jehovah's Witness, despite the boy's parents objecting to the medical procedure on religious grounds.
Supreme Court Justice James Douglas has ordered that the boy, who can only be identified as "J," to be given any necessary blood products after undergoing a liver transplant that may fully combat that child's severe liver disease, according to The Courier Mail.
"If a transplant is made it would be likely to cure his liver disease and reverse the significant symptoms from which he suffers already, and would significantly improve his quality of life,'' Judge Douglas said.
Due to the boy's illness, he would need a liver transplant in the next two or three years. The Judge further states that without the transplant, "death would be inevitable," reports The Courier Mail. Due to the nature of the operation, the medical procedures would most likely involve the administering of blood products.
The parents of the boy have objected to the transfusion of blood due to their belief that blood is sacred. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that accepting a blood transfusion violates a biblical sanction that demands believers to abstain from blood, which is found in the book of Acts, reports Brisbane Times.
Judge Douglas however, states that the parents of the boy are willing to compromise to a point, due to their son's health condition. "They are, however, obviously concerned about their son and for his health and are willing to agree to a liver transplant," Judge Douglas said in a written judgment, according to Brisbane Times. "They are anxious in that context to receive an assurance that every appropriate and reasonable blood conservation measure be used before the doctors resort to the administration of a blood transfusion," he added.
