VANCOUVER - The Jehovah's Witness parents of the four surviving sextuplets born in B.C. Women and Children's Hospital are accusing the B.C. Ministry of Children and Families of violating their parental rights by seizing three of their children in order to administer blood transfusions.
A lawyer for the parents appeared in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday ready to appeal the ministry's decision to seize the children -only to find the ministry had withdrawn the order and returned the children back to the parents' care.
The babies, who were born prematurely, are still being cared for in hospital. However, two of three children seized over the weekend have received blood transfusions, a medical procedure that is opposed by Jehovah's Witnesses as it offends their religious beliefs.
Ontario lawyer Shane Brady, who represents the family, said the ministry's actions were "a gross violation" of the parent's constitutional rights and he will be back in B.C. Supreme Court for a hearing on the issue Feb. 23.
http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=cc7f44d0-a743-4186-9f71-7cda369c419d&k=53804--------
Ethicist says B.C. blood feud may save children and Jehovah's Witness parents
The parents, who risk being shunned for life by the church because their children received the transfusions, can now plead they abided by the blood ban, but couldn't stop the government, she said.
"They can hold their head up among the Jehovah's Witness community and say, 'We protested, we went to court."'
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