Jehovah's Witnesses in the News
2005
Jehovah's Witnesses file $100,000 suit to Silence Whistle-blower
Website
Legal proceedings before the Ontario Superior Court were initiated on September
8, 2005 by the WatchTower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (hereinafter
WTBTS), the legal corporation used by Jehovah’s Witnesses for their publishing
operations, against Peter Mosier, owner and operator of the website located at:
http://quotes.watchtower.ca.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, who publicly trumpet their past legal battles to protect
freedom of the press, expression, and religion, file suit for monetary damages
against a web site that does nothing more than quote interesting excerpts from
their own religious literature, which they have printed and freely distributed to the
public for decades.
The law suit seeks monetary punitive damages and a court ordered silencing of the
aforementioned website, which does nothing more than provide a well researched
and topically organized collection of interesting and esoteric quotations from more
than one hundred years of religious literature published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
....
This in spite of their public sentiment expressed in the August 15, 1950 issue of The
Watchtower, page 263, "The Watchtower… invites careful and critical examination
of its contents in the light of the Scriptures." In the May 15, 1957 issue of The
Watchtower, on pages 313-315 the WTBTS encouraged readers thusly, "Do you
dig out older publications to expand and deepen your knowledge on subjects about
which questions arise? Have you really studied these earlier publications? ... There
is much in the way of spiritual riches and aids toward mature knowledge in these
earlier publications, and their study is most certainly worth your time."
....
The Open Press, September 24, 2005 by Danny Haszard
Hearing on wrongful death held
A hearing began yesterday to determine whether the Jehovah's Witness religious
order should be brought to trial in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a man who
blames the church for his daughter's death.
Lawrence Hughes filed a $1-million lawsuit last August against the Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society of Canada, Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute and several
doctors and Jehovah's Witnesses.
In his claim, Hughes says the Jehovah's Witness church's policy against blood
transfusions prompted the death of his daughter, Bethany Hughes, from acute
myeloid leukemia on Sept. 5, 2002.
....
Edmonton Sun, May 25, 2005
Jehovah's Witness cancer patient may receive blood transfusion
She went to New York to get away from doctors who insisted on giving her a
blood transfusion without her consent. But the 14-year-old Jehovah's Witness
with bone cancer may still end up receiving blood. The doctors in New York say
they will try harder than Canadian doctors to avoid a transfusion. "Blood
transfusions continue to be too widely used," Michael LaCorte, director of the blood
avoidance program at Schneider Children's Hospital, stated in an affidavit submitted
to British Columbia Supreme Court last week. However, hospital staff also assured
the court that if all else fails, the doctors would not let her die because she did not
receive blood.
"I have explained [to the child] I cannot give her an absolute guarantee there will
not be unexpected exigencies that might result in the use of blood products in her
treatment," Jeffrey Lipton, who heads the medical team in charge of the girl's care,
told the court. "I believe it is difficult for a physician to give a 100-per-cent
guarantee that any medical procedure will be entirely successful."
The girl's struggle to assert her right to take control of her medical care and refuse
a blood transfusion has captured the attention of the country, raising questions
about whether a minor is mature enough to make such life-and-death decisions.
B.C. requires a person to be 18 years old.
....
Last week, the girl went to Schneider Children's Hospital in New York after an
agreement was reached with B.C.'s director of child protection. The family and
government officials refused to comment or release details of the agreement.
Court orders in B.C. and Ontario prohibit the news media from identifying the girl.
She was diagnosed in December with bone cancer, called osteogenic sarcoma, in
her right calf. Her treatment was to include six courses of chemotherapy, each
lasting 35 days. Chemotherapy affects the body's ability to replace blood cells, and
transfusions are often required.
Her doctor in B.C. advised the girl and her parents that he had never provided
chemotherapy treatment without blood transfusions, court documents state.
The doctor said that if a blood transfusion were warranted, he would perform one
against the girl's wishes.
The girl consented to the chemotherapy treatment, surgical removal of her tumour
and, if necessary, amputation of her leg. But, as a Jehovah's Witness, she would
not consent to blood transfusions.
Her refusal is based "on God's word," she said in an interview this month with The
Globe and Mail. "[God] told us to abstain from blood and we need to obey his
commandments."
In a written statement to court in April, she said a blood transfusion was "no
different than somebody getting sexually assaulted or raped or robbed or
something."
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Associated Press, May 23, 2005 by ROBERT MATAS