Hospital can give blood transfusion to baby, High Court rules

THE High Court has granted a Dublin maternity hospital orders allowing it to perform, if required, an emergency blood transfusion on a baby born prematurely just over a week ago.

The child, weighing less than 1kg, was born in the Coombe to parents who are Jehovah’s Witnesses and have refused to consent to a transfusion should it become necessary in an emergency.

Yesterday at the High Court, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said he was satisfied to make orders allowing the hospital to administer a blood transfusion to the baby girl — who cannot be identified by order of the court — should the need arise. The judge’s ruling means a transfusion will only be given to the baby should her condition deteriorate and it becomes necessary to save her life.