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Aug. 27, 2004. 06:45 PM
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Dead girl's dad sues Jehovah's Witnesses
BY BILL
GRAVELAND
CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY A Calgary man suing the Jehovah's Witnesses,
claiming they contributed to his daughter's death by
encouraging her to avoid life-saving blood transfusions, said
today his lawsuit is for her and for his family.
"The Jehovah's Witness church stole away my family,
friends and 20 years of my life," Lawrence Hughes said outside
Calgary's Court of Queen's Bench, where he filed the lawsuit.
"I paid a high price to give my daughter a chance to live.
"This lawsuit is for Bethany and if Bethany's
listening, I want her to know I love her," he added as he
choked back tears.
Bethany Hughes died at age 17 on Sept. 5, 2002, after
being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood
cancer seven months earlier.
In his statement of claim, Hughes says his former wife
Arliss Hughes and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
the organization that represents the Jehovah's Witness
religion "overtly influenced Bethany to believe that blood
transfusions were wrong and would not help cure her cancer."
The lawsuit also alleges "the Watch Tower defendants
committed the (civil wrongs) of deceit and undue influence,
all of which contributed to and led to the circumstances
causing the death of Bethany."
Bethany's illness and death tore the family apart and
renewed public debate over how to determine when a child
should be able to dictate his or her own medical care.
When Bethany was diagnosed with leukemia at age 16,
Lawrence Hughes split with the Jehovah's Witnesses and his
wife over her treatment. He said the transfusions should be
undertaken if that was the only way to save her.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that it's against God's
wishes for one person to take blood from another.
The fight over Bethany's care was bitter. The Alberta
government stepped in and won temporary custody of her and
against her wishes she was given 38 transfusions until they
were deemed ineffective. She died less than two months later.
Lawyers for the Jehovah's Witnesses fought in court for
the teen's right to decide her treatment.
The Charter of Rights allows those 18 and older to
decide. Medical ethics dictate that all mature children should
be allowed to decide unless their competence has been
compromised.
Even though five pediatricians and psychiatrists found
Bethany to be mature enough to decide her own treatment, the
courts ruled she was pressured by her religion and didn't have
a free, informed will.
The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal.
The statement of claim, which contains allegations yet
to be proven in court, said Bethany was encouraged to not
question her beliefs during prayer services held in her
hospital room. At one point, said the document, Arliss Hughes
tried to pull intravenous lines from Bethany's arm.
"These defendants unduly influenced Bethany to prevent
her from questioning her belief system that it was against
God's law to take a blood transfusion and that if she did, she
would be eternally damned by God and not survive Armageddon,"
reads the statement.
The lawsuit names Watch Tower lawyers David Gnam and
Shane Brady as defendants.
Brady, reached today at his office in Georgetown, Ont.,
said the allegations have already been raised in the Hughes'
divorce proceedings.
"Mr. Hughes is entitled to his day in court. I don't
say he shouldn't have his day in court but he's already had
his day," he said.
Lawrence Hughes, who brought his family to Calgary from
their home in Belleville, Ont., in the late 1990s, said that
because of the dispute, he has been shunned by his family and
the Jehovah's Witness community.
He said he hopes his lawsuit will help others. "I just
want to stop the deaths of innocent people and hopefully to
prevent my (other) daughters from dying as well."
He is also suing the Cross Cancer Institute in
Edmonton.
After the transfusions were stopped and Bethany was
released from the government's care, Hughes said the mother
and the Jehovah's Witnesses secretly took her to the Cross
Cancer Institute, where she was given treatment that didn't
include transfusions.
By keeping him in the dark, said Hughes in the
statement, they prevented him from taking steps to get her
treatment that may have helped save her.
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