Life-saving operation - Right to life outweighs religious ethic

THE High Court decision to order a life-saving operation to proceed on a five-month-old baby girl, despite her mother’s objection on religious grounds, was the only course of action to follow.

Effectively, it clears the way for surgeons at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, to carry out the transfusion of blood and blood products in an operation next Wednesday to save the life of the hole-in-the-heart baby.

Initially, her mother had consented to the unqualified use of blood and blood products but withdrew permission following “support” from her Jehovah’s Witness community.

While society has a bounden duty to encompass the beliefs enshrined in different religions, a person’s right to life, and especially that of a child, is paramount and must take precedence over religious objections to certain conventional treatments.

In life and death cases, where doctors are unable to persuade parents to do what is best for their child, there are compelling grounds for the courts to intervene.