Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi plans to ask the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital to approach the courts to save the life of a critically-ill boy, who needs a liver transplant, but whose Jehovah’s Witness father is refusing to allow a blood transfusion.
The Sowetan reports that Motsoaledi said the 15-year-old’s liver transplant cannot be done without a blood transfusion. “I am going to ask the hospital to go to court if it wants to save his life,” he said.
The Mpumalanga teen is battling kidney and liver disease but his family has made it clear to doctors that they won’t allow a blood transfusion during the surgery due to their religious beliefs.
Motsoaledi said the operation will be entail major surgery as his liver will have to be removed, obviously resulting in bleeding.
“Don’t you think it’s double standards to accept a liver but not accept blood? What’s the difference?” he asked.
He added that while everyone has the right to religious beliefs, the right to life supersedes all other rights.
“The parents cannot take a decision to send their child to death,” said Motsoaledi.
Since February last year the teenager has been travelling from KwaNdebele to Charlotte Maxeke three times a week for dialysis, leaving home at 4am and returning at around 5pm.
His father, Monde Magoloza, said that when his son was first admitted to hospital, his haemoglobin levels had dropped dangerously and doctors had “put him on machines to help him breathe”.
“Doctors managed to revive him without giving him blood,” he said, adding that medical staff had respected the family’s religious beliefs and successfully performed two procedures using alternative methods to regenerate blood.
“We told the hospital many times that we do not infuse blood because of our religion. They sat down with our church leaders and came to an understanding that my son would not receive blood and they would use whatever they could to regenerate blood,” he said.
The transplant is expected to be conducted at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre, but the family has now been informed that it cannot go ahead without the possibility of a blood transfusion.
“If they don’t want to help us because of our religion, I’m afraid my son might get worse,” he said.
Gauteng Health has confirmed the teenager, who has a rare metabolic disorder affecting his liver and kidneys, and who has been in limbo for months, is in a stable condition and receiving specialised treatment.
It said no final decision has been taken to place the boy on the transplant list as the paediatric transplant panel determines decisions about a child’s eligibility for a transplant.
“He has not yet been formally presented before the panel and deliberations are still under way,” the department said.
Last week, the department had said doctors might be forced to carry out the blood transfusion on the teenager without his parent’s consent, if necessary, reports The Citizen.
When consent is withheld
The department said parents must not withhold consent solely based on religious or other beliefs unless there is a medically accepted alternative available. When consent is withheld, the clinical team must assess whether the decision aligns with the best interests of the child.
“If refusal places the child at significant risk and no medically accepted alternative exists, a clinician is expected to treat the child and the parents may approach the High Court or the Minister of Health to stop the treatment.
“In this case, the child has not received blood products, despite presenting with symptomatic anaemia associated with renal failure. The condition was successfully stabilised using haematinics and the boy continues to be closely monitored.”
Major surgical procedures, including liver transplants, differ because they may involve rapid blood loss, requiring immediate access to blood to preserve life in case some of the alternative methods are not effective, it stated.
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