Superstition Almost Kills At Broward General
BY SAM FIELDS
All religion, aka “magical thinking†or aka “supernaturalismâ€, is mostly stupid. But almost nothing in the West tops the Jehovah’s Witnesses with their prohibition on simple, safe lifesaving blood transfusions.
My contact with Jehovah’s Witness contact is limited to them knocking on the door right after the white-shirted Mormons have departed. I love to get in a debate with these “believers†who are trying to “save my soul.â€
I get a good laugh. . .And the whole time my family is yelling at me for being rude.
If you think my behavior is extreme, consider the latest religious outrage in Broward: Mr. and Mrs. Rock Sanozier’s belief in the Jehovah’s Witnesses got in the way of common-sense child rearing this week.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Bible forbids blood transfusions. The Sanozier’s told Broward General Medical Center physicians they would rather their three-year-old son die than allow him to have a simple lifesaving blood transfusion.
The kid had pneumonia. His blood system was blocked by a clogged spleen and physicians believed the only thing that would save him was a blood transfusion.
After the Sanoziers refused treatment, physicians asked the State Attorney’s Office to step in. State law allows prosecutors to protect the children of parents who refuse medical treatment.
This week it took Broward Assistant State Attorney Scott Raft and a Circuit Court Judge Susan Aramony to overcome these two parental whack jobs. I call them whack jobs because they put their kid on the road to death in the name of religion.
Aramony was not swayed by Biblical arguments. She ordered the treatment.
We live in a world with this phony baloney Post-Modernist philosophy that confuses the right to beliefs with the wisdom of beliefs.
So before you start writing in criticizing me for my ideas remember that, through affirmative inaction and in the name of god, these people were willing to kill their kid.
If the Sanoziers had withheld the transfusion because they wanted to use the money for a weekend getaway, they would go to jail for neglect. If they do it because they believe an invisible guy in the sky told them to do it, they are lionized as holy people.
Either way an innocent three-year-old is dead.
XXXXX
(Sam Fields, a frequent guest columnist at Browardbeat.com, is a local criminal defense attorney.)
June 30th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Sam,
I agree with you. The parents’ religious beliefs should not be a hinderence to medical treatment for a 3 year old child who has no such beliefs.
That said, in adults, even if only a placebo effect, spirituality and belief in God, aids in the healing process.
June 30th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Sam, we should all enroll in the the Jehovah’s Witness Protection Program, just in case someone tries to withhold necessary treatment.
June 30th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Fundamentalism is dangerous whatever the religious tenets.
July 1st, 2011 at 8:02 am
I can’t help myself. I agree with Fields. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
July 1st, 2011 at 2:17 pm
God is Great!
July 1st, 2011 at 5:49 pm
I know of a JW who will not go for surgery for her 5 (or 7…at the moment I can’t remember how many) aneurysms between her chest and abdomen. The woman is literally a ticking time bomb. No one can convince to seek help. What can you do???
July 1st, 2011 at 8:43 pm
@pbm
If she is an adult, respect her wishes and whatever happens, happens.
July 2nd, 2011 at 8:59 am
@pbm
offer to pay all her medical bills and bills for follow-up care, any wages lost from being out of work and any future wages lost in case of complications from surgery, and also pay all her bills until she recuperates. maybe she will go for it then.
July 2nd, 2011 at 5:57 pm
“Chaz” Stevens is really Tim Stevens, and don’t you forget it.
p.s. he aint no genius
July 3rd, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Death Frog 3:
I have done so for a very long time. There’s nothing I can do but wait for the best.
dk:
Been there, done that…I’ve offered to pay for the 20% that Medicare won’t cover for treatment, etc. I’ve even offered to help watch over her until she’s fine, but to no avail. There aren’t wages to consider here. Nothing can be done. I just wish her the best.