Parents Deny Dying Baby Blood, Have Parenthood Revoked

A mother and father who denied permission for their one-year-old boy to receive a life-saving blood transfusion were stripped of parental authority by courts on the same day, saving the life of the infant.

They cited religious reasons for endangering the life of the boy; speculation centres on them being Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The incident occurred when the infant boy suffered a severe haemorrhage in the alimentary canal, losing a large amount of blood in what doctors considered a life-threatening condition.

For the infant to receive treatment, parental assent was required, but despite doctors trying again and again to persuade them, they refused to allow the needed blood transfusion, claiming it was prohibited by their religion.

Desperate doctors quickly contacted a family court, and within half a day the court judged that as “medical neglect”, the refusal was effectively child abuse. As a result, they legally revoked the parental authority of the pair and passed it to authorities, allowing doctors to go ahead.

Normally such urgent judgments take a week or more, but in this case the court was compelled to act far more quickly; the revocation itself was a temporary measure, although it is not clear how long it lasted.

Via Itai News.

The mass media and hospitals are too tactful to reveal what religion was involved (certainly such objections are not normally associated with any Japanese religions); 2ch plausibly speculates that these were Jehovah’s witnesses.

The actions of the parents have been roundly condemned, with many wondering why such a group is not a restricted cult along with Aum Shinrikyo and company.