What do you think of this judge?

Question

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/29/jehovahs.witness.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

"Boy allowed to die on religious grounds"

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- A few hours after a judge ruled that a 14-year-old Jehovah's Witness sick with leukemia had the right to refuse a blood transfusion that might have helped him, the boy died, a newspaper reported.

Answer 1

It's heartbreaking, but I'm afraid the judge was probably right about the law. The parents had given custody to his aunt, and she was a JW. That's where the problem lies. They never should have given his aunt custody.

At 14, he's on the borderline about being treated as an adult for legal purposes, but the fact that it was his decision, and the judge was convinced that he was sincere, and that he understood the consequences, there really was no law that the judge could use to force him. If there was, it would be used in a lot of wrong ways, even if it seemed valid in this case.

The tragedy is that the parents ever gave the kid over to the aunt's custody.

Answer 2

Leukemia is a cancer of the blood marrow. It is a personal decision to have a bone marrow transplant for a JWs. I’m not sure if the little brother got that. It is also up to the person, to have the alternative to red blood cells (which carries oxygen to the body) with other oxygen carrying alternatives, and even hemoglobin which is a fractionalized red blood cell. Are those alternatives given to the child? We don’t know.

The blood that is being transfused right now to everybody is lacking nitric oxide so as Dr Stamler said :

“It doesn't matter how much oxygen is being carried by red blood cells, it cannot get to the tissues that need it without nitric oxide," said Dr. Jonathan Stamler of Duke University, leader of one of the research groups.

Another recent news stated :

The transfusions are designed to improve the delivery of oxygen to the body's tissues.
But researchers found patients who received a transfusion had a three-fold increase in complications linked to lack of oxygen

So will the blood transfusion help this kid? I personally don’t believe so.

Doctors are also humans, they are not God, I personally think that they can’t tell someone or anyone that the sick person can live 5 more years or 1 more week.

I respect this little brother, and the judge who preserved the dignity of this brother. And even if this little brother died, we all have the hope of the resurrection, because as the Bible says “that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Answer 3

Tardis Girl...You want the government deciding what medical treatment you can and cannot have? what about if a girl was 16 and wanted an abortion? what about if someone was 80 and had a terminal ilness but wanted to die on their own? You may or may not agree on the treatment or what was or will be done but the minute you get Governments deciding what is right EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE loses. For if you think for a minute they'll (the government) will just go after the JW's...you are sadly mistaken.

It is thinking like that that has caused the slaughter of tens of millions of people (just in the last 100 years). Agree or disagree...but you are going down the raod to outright tyranny if you want the government deciding because you personally don't like it...what's next...limit what you can say or think?

Answer 4

People deserve to retain their free will to do with their own life what they please so long as it does not cause another harm.
He had every right to refuse the medical procedure for whatever reason he had.
That judge did as he should have.
Would you prefer that our government controls every aspect of our existence, "for our own good"
How can anyone truly know what's best for me?
Yes we are made of the same stuff, and we are very similar in construct, but our minds, our souls... they are ours and can only be known in full by us.

Besides, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the transfusion would have done anything at all. Only statistical probability. That's not a religious ground, although his beliefs may have played a role in his refusal to extend the duration of his doomed existence.

Answer 5

This is the kind of sick decisions we have when judges are chosen for their conservative political views rather than legal skill.

A 14 year old is NOT competent to make life and death decisions like this. The court should have saved the boy from himself as they have in many other identical situations. The boy was most likely saying what the parents or aunt said he should say and they should be prosecuted for manslaughter.

Answer 6

This is another example of mental child abuse. 14 is too young to make a decision like that. He was probably just imitating his zealot aunt, and had no idea of any other rational choice. Brainwashing children is a religious tradition. Does science take children and prevent them from learning anything else at all? The aunt should be prosecuted.

Answer 7

Every animal on the planet earth has a sense of self preservation.


Except for certain humans that believe certain things.

it's not what i think about the judge it's what i think about the kid.

Well, now that i really think about it, with leukemia (sp?) a blood transfusion was just delaying the inevitable. I approve of the above posted.

Answer 8

The purpose of the law is to protect individual rights, not to make decisions for people. The law is wrong only when it violates individual rights and when it does not protect the rights of people.

If we want the State to decide for us, then we lose one main right, that of the freedom of choosing what we wish to do with our body and our life. Either life is ours or we belong to the State. There is no middle ground.

Answer 9

That is why new religion is just destroying the image and the rest of the religion. But i think this religion is much more racist for sure not allowing blood transfusion and not only that they judge like they are god them self. If i am god i will erase this religion from my book of heaven.

Answer 10

There needs to be a precedent that establishes that belief in a religion qualifies as an insanity, which it does, so a doctor can make the correct choice for those who are like this stupid kid.