HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?

LOVING CARE FOR CHILDREN

Court cases regarding blood mainly involve children. On occasion, when loving parents have respectfully asked that non-blood management be used, some medical personnel have sought court backing to give blood.  Of course, Christians agree with laws or court action to prevent child abuse or neglect. Perhaps you have read of cases in which some parent brutalized a child or denied it medical care. How tragic! Clearly, the State can and should step in to protect a neglected child. Still, it is easy to see how very different it is when a caring parent request high-quality non-blood medical therapy.

These court cases usually focus on a child in a hospital. How did the younger get there, and why?  Almost always the concerned parents brought their child to get quality care. Even as Jesus was interested in children, Christian parents care for their children.   The Bible speaks of  'a nursing mother cherish her own children.'  Jehovah's Witnesses have such deep love for their children. -1 Thessalonians 2:7; Matthew 7:11; 19:13-15. 

Naturally, all parents make decisions affecting their children's safety and life:  Will the family use gas or oil to heat the home?  Will they take a child on a long-distance drive? May he go swimming? Such matters involve risks, even life-and-death ones.  But society recognizes parental discretion, so parents are granted the major voice in nearly all decisions affecting their children.  

In 1979 the U.S. Supreme Court stated clearly:  "The law's concept of the family  rests on a presumption that parents possess what a child lacks in  maturity, experience, and capacity for judgment required for making life's difficult decisions. . . .Simply because the decision of a parent  [on a medical matter] involves risks does not automatically transfer  the power to make that decision from the parents to some agency or officer of the state." -Parham v J.R. 

Next time: HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?/LOVING CARE FOR CHILDREN

From the Watchtower magazine