REFUSED BLOOD

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30092, 28 March 1963, Page 14

REFUSED BLOOD

Man Who Died From Fall (N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. Mar. 27 A Jehovah’s Witness refused a blood transfusion after a fall and died in hospital soon after, the Coroner’s Court at Lower Hutt was told today Medical evidence was given that Leslie Firth, aged 43. would not have died if he had consented to a blood transfusion. A Hutt Hospital house surgeon, Boyd Lovell Blake, said Firth had fallen from a ladder while painting a house. At the hospital he refused to give details for a case sheet and would not consent to an operation or blood transfusion

Only after his wife had spoken to him did he consent to an operation.

Internal bleeding began after the operation and a transfusion was necessary Hospital staff had pleaded with Firth and his close relatives to allow a transfusion, but their pleas were met with adamant refusal, Blake said Firth's last words before he died were: “No blood.” The Coroner <Mr P. Keesing) said the incident involved “the doubtful privilege of choosing between life and death.”

He found that Firth's death had occurred from injuries received in the fall and from his refusal on religious grounds to accept a blood transfusion

The Coroner added a rider that his finding be brought to the attention of the Director-General of Health.