The New Zealand blood bank declares that any traces still present do not pose a risk to recipients
The New Zealand Health Service has filed a court order for the guardianship of a four month old baby whose parents refuse to allow her urgent heart surgery unless it is used blood of people not vaccinated against Covid-19.
The boy’s parents discussed their son’s health situation and their medical preferences in an interview with an anti-vaccination activist.
In the interview the parents stated that their child has severe pulmonary valve stenosis and that he needs surgery “immediately,” but that they are “extremely concerned about the blood the doctors will be using. We don’t want blood tainted by the vaccination.”
According to the blood bank, NZ Blood, any Covid-19 vaccine in the blood is broken down soon after injection. In a statement, Dr Mike Sheparddirector ad interim of the Auckland Health Service, said he knows that a blood transfusion can be worrying for parents who have a sick child and are making decisions about how to treat him, but that it is not a good reason to prevent an operation that can save him the life.
The New Zealand Health Service filed documents with the Auckland High Court under the Care of Children Act. She asked that guardianship of the child be shifted from his parents to his doctors, so that they could give consent to the use of donated blood.
“The decision of submit an application to the court always comes taken with the best interests of the child in mindShepard said. “As the matter is before the courts, we will not comment further.”
NZ Blood, the New Zealand blood bank, said: “All donated blood is also filtered during processing, so any traces that may still be present do not pose a risk to the recipients. However, we do not separate or label blood based on a donor’s COVID-19 vaccination status.”
And then added that there was no evidence that previous Covid vaccination had affected the quality of blood for transfusion.
A professor of bioethics at the University of Otago, Josephine Johnstonesaid this case was particularly distressing for all involved, because there was significant disagreement between the parents and the health care teams, even though they were both trying to act in the child’s best interests.
“Parents have a lot of decision-making authority over their children’s lives, there is a huge area of discretion for them when they have to make decisions even on medical matters. But there are also limits, and this is one of those tragic cases where the limit has consequences for life and death“.
#Parents #refuse #emergency #heart #surgery #newborn #son