mother dies after refusing blood transfusion

World UK

Published

A very sad story from England.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/shropshire/7078455.stm

A young mother has died after giving birth to twins, following claims that she had refused a blood transfusion because of her faith.

Jehovah's Witness Emma Gough, 22, from Telford, Shropshire, gave birth on 25 October.

Specializes in L&D, medsurg,hospice,sub-acute.
i'm sorry but there is something about just letting a patient that you very well might have saved die that makes me sick...i know all about "it's her right" stuff. well why did she even come to the hospital, why not just have the baby at home then in some cornfeild. a patient comes to the hospital and wants our help, but then when her life is on the line she refuses....i'm sorry i'm in the buissness of trying to save life,sight or limb. thank god my name is not on her record, cause it just makes me sick.

Who told you that coming in for help meant accepting everything modern medicine thought was right??? Why shouldn't we be able to chooose some treatments and not all??? Cancer patients have the choice of when to say when with radiation and chemo, and therefore choose when they will stop fighting...Although this woman's choice would not be mine...I I left Labor and Delivery because I saw too many people making choices I could not live with...and now I work with people who are force fed and can't speak for themselves...part of nursing is finding the niche that you can be challenged by, have joy from, and go home and have a peaceful heart...

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Specializes in L&D, medsurg,hospice,sub-acute.
I try to respect peoples beliefs, but this one I think if the law allows I would of tried to get a temporary something from a judge to allow all measures to save this mother. How selfish to not except help and leave two children without a mother because of this belief. I know I'll get all types of negative responses, but I don't know that I could of just let religion run the show in this case. If she truly was going to die (who can predict, noone) than so be it, but noone knows and she could of survived and been here to take care of her babies. I know I have strong beliefs to but I hope they never become strong enough that I would do something like this and put my religion or belief before my family. Please don't ream me to much, this is just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions.

My love for family is an expression of my faith....having faith that God will take care of her children, honoring her obedience...that is an expression of love and courage and faith...although her choice would not have been mine,how each of us choose to express that love may not be understandable to all, but it doesn't have to be...I pray that her babies are loved and taken care of by someone who loves them

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Specializes in L&D, medsurg,hospice,sub-acute.
No, Im sorry, I cant shut up now! The greatest CAUSE in bringing forth life, is surely to MOTHER those lives, to be with the wee people you have created EVERY step of the way, every step that you are Physically able to take with them! Surely the greatest cause in this life, is to be raising your own babies, To be their MOTHER..which, at conception, is what your body chose to be! If help is needed to BE that Mammy..Then take it..with all your heart...Holy Christ...HOW can you miss out, and cause your babies to miss out, on the most special and unique relationship that can ever be felt in the soul??

Again, I will offend, but I dont care really, ....will the almighty god jehovah sing these babies to sleep at night...will that same jehovah nurse them and make them strong and healthy?????????? NO!!!!

Unselfishness...thats when you dont sleep for days, cause your babe doesnt want to, is having a growth spurt and wants to feed constantly!

Unselfishness....NO...leaving your tiny baby is not unselfish...times that by TWO!!!:angryfire

But you missed the point--she believed (and it's her beliefs that counts here--not yours) that God WILL take care of her babies--in fact none of us can take care of our babies without God....it is God who keeps us strong and healthy--not us.....

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Specializes in Mother-Baby.

{I am not too much into religion but I've always been taught and believed that God forgave all sins, would this have been an exception? }

I'm not a JW, but I am a Christian - so that's where my point of view is going to be on this. I think regardless of the faith you have, if you have a TRUE faith (JW, Catholic, Presbyterian, etc.) you believe and hold to the tenets of that faith.

All Christian denominations, and most likely the JW as they read from the same Bible believe that to be a true Christian (well, Jesus actually used the term disciple) - you must take follow Him and put nothing an no one before Him. Several times people asked Jesus what they needed to do to follow him. He told them to come and follow me, and yet these people wanted to go say bye to their family or bury their dead first. What did Jesus tell these people? That He should come first in their life, that they should turn from their old life and never look back. The man that puts his hand to the plow and looks back will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

As for God always forgiving sins - yes & no. Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - no one was perfect except Jesus. Even Christians are sinners, and need Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. However, there is a HUGE difference between consciously deciding to sin and falling into sin. For a JW (again, not one - but I have family members who are) to decide to accept blood is a conscious decision to sin against God - which is very different from sinning on the fly, realizing it and asking for forgiveness. The intent is the issue.

And to sin intentionally grieves the Holy Spirit (part of the Trinity of God the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit).

I'm not trying to bash anyone, or get long-winded here. I just think everyone needs to put this into perspective. Religion is not the issue - faith is, and yes there is a difference. Religion is the "wordly" way of rules & obligation of church going. Faith is real and deep feelings you have toward a God who saved you - and you desire to make Him Lord of your life - which is HARD to do - especially if it calls you to lose your life. Again, I'm not a JW, and while I don't agree with their belief I certainly understand why they feel so strongly, and I would respect (although hard to do) their right to deny a transfusion.

God Bless:balloons:

txpixiedust

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.
But you missed the point--she believed (and it's her beliefs that counts here--not yours) that God WILL take care of her babies--in fact none of us can take care of our babies without God....it is God who keeps us strong and healthy--not us.....

Respectfully patti....Thats YOUR belief, not everyones. And actually, by posting in this thread, my beliefs do count, they dont matter a jot to that poor dead girl, but to me they matter, and THATS what I post! As, you in turn post YOUR beliefs and opinions. Which you have done, and I respect your view. But my view, I will stand by it 100%. Nothing, especially an unseen being, can substitute for a mothers love for a child. Again...my view, my belief, my experience, my life!

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.
My love for family is an expression of my faith....having faith that God will take care of her children, honoring her obedience...that is an expression of love and courage and faith...although her choice would not have been mine,how each of us choose to express that love may not be understandable to all, but it doesn't have to be...I pray that her babies are loved and taken care of by someone who loves them

ok, just not by their mother??? Cant get my head round this, sorry, just so sad that her life could have been saved and shared with two children, what about when they ask why their mammy died??? To give them life? Or because of something written way too long ago????? This just makes my head spin. I DO respect people of different faiths, respect that they will make choices that I would perhaps not make. BUT...life or death, come on.....a whole life ahead with babies you have nurtured in your body for 40 weeks or so, and a dream of the future, ....and you choose not to live that dream???

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that is an ethical dilemma in nursing... it has been the person's faith that has chosen for him...

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Let's try not to disparage other religious viewpoints, shall we? Of all people, you have constantly spouted your purported "christian" religious beliefs and here you are demonstrating intolerance towards another group who happen to believe something different than you do.

Please think again before you decide to type. :nono:

ASHERAH

just rememberthis: christians are not perfect just forgiven. there is no perfect person who is going to please you

you are certainly not perfect to judge any one christrian or not.

now leave me alone ...."you are looking for some one to argue with" and i will ignore you after this by deleting my self from this thread so u can argue with your self only

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Specializes in SRNA.

you are certainly not perfect to judge any one christrian or not.

Haha....this is just the pot calling the kettle black. Please, for the sake of us all, listen to your own advice with regards to calling other religious viewpoints 'cults.'

Trust me, I try my very best to ignore ignorant and hypocritical posts. But sometimes, you just have to call it like you see it. Also, please be aware that your comments earlier in the thread come quite close or could be considered in violation of the Terms of Service as see below:

(Discrimination, racial vilification and offensive generalizations targeting people of other races, religions and/or nationalities will not be tolerated.)

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This is a difficult scenario, regardless of the article saying a blood transfusion would not have saved her. In this particular case, what everyone is arguing about didn't actually happen. But, it does make us think about the "what if?".

What if, in this case, blood would have helped?

I too believe that everyone has a right to self-determination. Medical care cannot be forced on adults. There is a grayer area in regards to children.

I disagree with the interpretation that Jehovah's Witnesses make about the verse regarding blood. So, that makes it harder for me because I think the mom, if blood would have saved her, was wrong in her interpretation. So, she leaves children behind for a false interpretation.

However, everyone is entitled to believe what they want.

Life is difficult in a free society . . . . but I wouldn't want a society that dictates our religious beliefs.

We have freedom of religion as a foundation of our Constitution. The mother has a right to refuse blood products.

And we have a right to be sad about it.

There really is no other option . . . . unless we want to live in a dictatorship that tells us how to live, think, feel . . .

steph

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

I wonder if the harsh judgers on this thread are as judgemental of mothers who neglect their health in other ways? How about a mother who fails to get a mammogram or pap smear, a mother who has promiscuous sex and contracts HIV, a mother who is morbidly obese and slowly eating herself into an early grave, a mother who continues to smoke or drink alcohol, a mother who takes a high paid job far from home requiring a long commute and dies in a car wreck, etc and so forth...

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Specializes in Pediatric Intensive Care, Urgent Care.

Come on people...

this should come as no surprise...these are the same people, the only people who suffered in the Nazi concentration camps "voluntarily"!!! All they had to do was sign a paper renouncing their faith and they would be set free. How many reneged?? None! none! They chose better to die a horrible death along side the jews instead of reneging their faith. My source: the JW section in the holocaust museum in New York. They have a section there and till this day that fact has left a huge impression on me. Their faith is insurmountable! To us, it may seem odd, or even foolish, or even downright inconceivable! But if "faith" in general had a blueprint...that would be it. Till the death. I haven't met too many religious people...me being one of them who would give there only life for their faith...not too many of those around. In fact many people wouldn't sacrifice the gas it takes to drive to church let alone their life. Some would call it fanatical...but why?? Maybe it's just that we can't understand...because we are not at that level religious wise...i always wonder what kind of faith would it take to die for it, don't get me wrong, i'm not refering to people who sacrifice their own lives to kill people like suicide bombers and so on...i'm talking about pure unadulterated faith that in the face of certain death, you don't choose to save your own neck for fear of what would be left behind...i struggle to understand it...but it is unbelievable i guess...

Mex

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