Doctrine to Continue(Investigator 17, 1991 March)
"Aged Woman Dies After Rejecting Blood Offer" was a headline in the Goldcoast Bulletin (Queensland) of April 26 1989.
And The Globe & Mail (June 14 1986) of Canada reported the death of a haemophiliac boy when his parents withheld "lifesaving treatment".
When Jehovah's Witness lawyers afterwards arranged a secret autopsy the judge accused them of "moral turpitude".
The report started off:
A sick child should be forced to receive medical attention even when he and his parents object, Chief Provincial Judge Harold Gyles ruled yesterday at an inquest into the death of a 15-year-old Jehovah's Witness…Daniel Kennett, a hemophiliac for Devlin, Ont., died in the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre on Jan. 25 after he and his parents refused to allow doctors to administer a blood transfusion because it conflicted with their religious beliefs.
The youth was hemorrhaging from a ruptured spleen and his kidneys stopped working while his parents used legal means to fight his apprehension by child welfare authorities.
Judge Gyles…drew attention to sections 197 to 199 of the Criminal Code of Canada which make the preservation of life "a duty."…
JW authorities had opportunity to read Investigator's debate on transfusions but have not replied.
JW leaders have changed many doctrines. They used to teach that Napoleon inaugurated the "last days" in 1799 and Jesus' 2nd coming was in 1874. Vaccination used to be a: "violation of the law of Jehovah God."
Recently they
issued a new
anti blood
transfusion
document.
Obviously this particular "law of God" will stay in force a while longer.
(BS)