Jehovah’s Witnesses Form Medical Aid Society
(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter)
VANCOUVER, May 25. British Columbia’s 9000 Jehovah’s Witnesses have formed their own medical aid society to ensure that none of their children are treated in the province’s hospitals. Members of the sect, who object to blood transfusions on religious grounds, will instead take their children to hospitals in neighbouring provinces. The plan is designed to forestall the possibility of the British Columbia Children's Aid Society of seizing control of Jehovah’s Witness children whose lives could be saved by blood transfusions.
The society recently obtained a Court order confirming its wardship over a 15-year-old girl who disappeared with her Jehovah's Witness mother from a Vancouver hospital a fortnight ago.
It is believed that the child will die unless she has a blood transfusion. Under the Protection of Children Act, the society may apprehend and hold a child for seven days before applying for a Court order sanctioning its guardianship.
In these circumstances Jehovah’s Witnesses now fear that the society will intervene whenever a child is said to need a blood transfusion.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31380, 27 May 1967, Page 20
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178Jehovah’s Witnesses Form Medical Aid Society Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31380, 27 May 1967, Page 20
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