Posted on 11/29/2007 3:51:13 AM PST by ShadowDancer
Teen Jehovah's Witness Leukemia Patient Dies After Refusing Blood Transfusion
Thursday, November 29, 2007
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — A few hours after a Mount Vernon judge ruled that a 14-year-old Jehovah's Witness sick with leukemia had the right to refuse a blood transfusion, even though that refusal might kill him, the boy died in a Seattle hospital.
Dennis Lindberg of Mount Vernon died shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday in his bed at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, the boy's biological father, Dennis Lindberg Sr., told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Hospital spokeswoman Teri Thomas said she could not confirm or deny anything about the case at the request of the boy's legal guardian, who is an aunt.
Earlier Wednesday, Skagit County Superior Court Judge John Meyer denied a motion by the state to force the boy to have a blood transfusion. The judge said the eighth-grader knows "he's basically giving himself a death sentence."
Doctors diagnosed the boy with leukemia in early November and began treating him with chemotherapy at Children's Hospital, but stopped a week ago because his blood count was too low, the Skagit Valley Herald reported. The boy refused the transfusion on religious grounds.
However, his birth parents, Lindberg Sr. and Rachel Wherry, who do not have custody and flew from Boise, Idaho, to be at the hearing, believed their son should have had the transfusion and suggested he had been unduly influenced by his legal guardian, his aunt Dianna Mincin, who is also a Jehovah's Witness.
Mincin has declined to talk about the case.
The boy's father told the P-I the ruling shocked him but after visiting his son later in the day Wednesday, he decided not to appeal. He said doctors told him Wednesday evening that the boy, unconscious since Tuesday, had likely suffered brain damage.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
May God gather and cherish him.
I do not agree with his decision, but his faith is inspirational.
Anybody know what the claimed biblical basis is for refusing it?
“Guard yourself and guard your soul very carefully” (Deuteronomy 4:9-10).
Some obscure scripture that says...though shalt not eat blood.
JW`s where allowed blood transfusions at one time, they are for ever changing their ridiculous rules.. I know they are allowed to use some type of artificial blood /plasma?? but I guess it was of no use in this case.
The judge should have ordered him to have the blood transfusion! Jehovah's Witness is a CULT.
I believe it is found in Ezekiel or Ezra and has to do with mixing blood.
Sometimes it is based on purely a Faith that God will heal them without the intervention of man.
Died for what he believed, got to give him respect for that, as he was not screaming “Allah Akbar” and detonating anything..
So? I have a cousin who also died of leukemia after bone marrow transplants, etc. Most people do die of leukemia.
I found this on the gotquestions.org website:
http://www.gotquestions.org/blood-transfusions.html
Question: “Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions?”
Answer: Acts 15:19-21,28 is the Scripture Jehovah’s Witnesses typically point to as the reason they refuse to accept blood donations. Acts 15:20 says, “Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.” It is clear from the context that the instructions were against eating / drinking blood, not blood transfusions. Blood transfusions were not even possible in Bible times, so there is no possibility that this Scripture could be referring to blood transfusions. There were many pagan religious practices that involved eating and drinking blood and/or strangling an animal to keep more of its blood in its meat. This is what the Bible speaks against, not blood transfusions.
Is it acceptable for a Christian to receive or give a blood transfusion? Since the Bible does not explicitly say, a decision of this nature can only be made between a person and God. A person should carefully and prayerfully consider what God would have them to do in regards to receiving / giving a blood transfusion. There is no command either way in Scripture. Blood transfusions are therefore a matter of conscience.
True in adults, but most children with leukemia are cured. The cure rate is on the order of 70-80%.
Inspirational how? This death sounds preventable and totally unnecesary.
Thank you to all who answered my question.
Sad.
He trusted in God. I couldn’t do it.
And a very good morning to you, too.
Yeah.
So inspirational it killed him.
Brilliant.
The only thing this story inspired in me is anger and sadness. Such a waste.
Religion will get you killed.
Meanwhile, Jesus still heals.
Thanks for saying it.
This was a needless death, brought on by the mind control of religious fear.
He trusted in God. I couldn’t do it......................................
Sorry, but he did not trust in God
God knows his own. I do not agree with his decision, but he did what he thought God wanted him to do.
There is no sin on him that I can see.
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