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.