HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?

Conclusion of: LOVING CARE FOR CHILDREN

That same year the New York Court of Appeals ruled:  "The most significant factor in determining whether a child is being deprived of adequate medical care . . . is whether the parents have provided an acceptable course of medical treatment for their child in light of all the surrounding circumstances.  This inquiry cannot be posed in terms of whether the parent has made a 'right' or a 'wrong' decision, for the present state of the practice of medicine, despite its vast advances, very seldom permits such definitive conclusions. Nor can a court assume the role of a surrogate parent." -In re Hofbauer. 

Recall the example of parents choosing between surgery and antibiotics. Each therapy would have its own risks. Loving parents are responsible to weigh risks, benefits, and other factors and then to make a choice. In this connection, Dr. Jon Samuels (Anesthesiology News, October 1989) suggested a review of Guides to the Judge in Medical Orders Affecting Children, which took this position: 

Medical knowledge is not sufficiently advance to enable to a physician to predict with reasonable certainty that his patient will live or die . . . If there is a choice of procedures -if, for example, the doctor recommends a procedure which has an 80 percent chance of success but which the parents disapprove, and the parents have no objection to a procedure which has only a 40 percent  chance of success-the doctor must take the medically riskier but parentally unobjectionable course." In view of the many lethal hazards in medical use of blood that have surfaced and because there are effective alternative ways of management, might not avoiding blood even carry the lower risk? 

Naturally, Christians weigh many factors if their child needs surgery. Every operation, with or without the use of blood, has risks. What surgeon gives guarantees?  The parents may know that skilled physicians  have had fine success with bloodless surgery on Witness children. So even if a physician or a hospital official has another preference, rather than cause a stressful and time-consuming legal battle, is it not reasonable for them to work with the loving parents? Or parents may transfer their child to another hospital where the staff is experienced in handling such cases and willing to do so. In fact, non-blood management will more likely be quality care, for it can help; the family "to achieve legitimate medical and non-medical goals," as we noted earlier.

Next time: HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?/THE BLOOD THAT REALLY SAVES LIVES

From the Watchtower magazine