A pregnant Jehovah’s Witness and her baby recently died after the woman refused a blood transfusion in a Sydney hospital, as reported by DailyMail.uk. The heavily pregnant Jehovah’s Witness woman was diagnosed with leukemia seven months into her pregnancy and doctors said she could give birth via a cesarean section and undergo chemotherapy but both would require her to have a blood transfusion, that would probably have saved both of their lives.
The 28-year-old woman however refused the transfusion and her baby died in utero three days later. She also had a stillbirth and died 13 days after suffering a stroke and multi-organ failure.
More than 80 per cent of pregnant women suffering from cancer, called acute promyelocytic leukaemia, will go into remission with proper treatment, and the outlook for their babies is good. But the 28-year old’s religion forbade her from accepting the blood transfusion she needed to save her life and that of her unborn baby.
