Jehovah's Witness and Child Medical Treatment: X v The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network [2013] NSWCA 320
Friday 4 October 2013 @ 10.56 a.m. | Legal Research
In the case of X v The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network [2013] NSWCA 320, a Sydney teenager has lost his bid to refuse a potentially life-saving blood transfusion treatment because he is a Jehovah's Witness.
The Facts
The 17-year-old cancer victim, known only as X, appealed against a NSW Supreme Court order that staff at the Sydney Children's Hospital should be allowed to give him a blood transfusion on religious grounds. X is suffering from Hodgkin's disease and his doctors believe he has an 80 per cent chance of dying from anaemia if he does not receive the treatment.
He told his doctors he would rip the IV out of his arm if forced to have the transfusion, which he believes is akin to being raped.
The Supreme Court Decision
In March, Justice Gzell ordered the hospital be allowed to carry out the treatment on the boy, who immediately appealed against the decision.
While noting he was highly intelligent, a "mature minor" and devoted to his faith, the judge also found the boy had been "cocooned in that faith" for his entire life.
"The sanctity of life in the end is a more powerful reason for me to make the orders than is respect for the dignity of the individual."
The Court of Appeal Decision
In a decision handed down on 27 September 2013, Justices Beazley, Basten and Tobias agreed with Justice Gzell's original assessment of the situation, noting that:
"In exercising the jurisdiction to control or to ignore the parental right the court must act cautiously, not as if it were a private person acting with regard to his own child, and acting in opposition to the parent only when judicially satisfied that the welfare of the child requires that the parental right should be suspended or superseded."
The court also found that there should be no adjustment for the fact that X is 5 months closer to being 18, when he will be legally allowed to refuse treatment as an adult.
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Sources:
X v The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network [2013] NSWCA 320 (27 September 2013)
