Teen forced to have blood transfusions called prisoner

Calgary Herald/April 10, 2002
By Daryl Slade

A 16-year-old Jehovah's Witness who is being forced to undergo blood transfusions for leukemia has told how she is a "prisoner" at a hospital where she is tied to a bed.

The Ontario native -- known only as Mia -- is fighting a court order that requires her to have the treatment in Alberta, even though blood transfusions go against her religion.

"...I do not want to die in spite of everything you might have heard before. I want medical treatment that will respect my dignity and my choice, but not what is being forced on me in Alberta.

"I am now being tied and held down to my bed at the Alberta Children's Hospital. I have been sedated. I have been given drugs that interfere with my memory. I am a prisoner."

The girl's lawyer, David Gnam, has argued that, as a mature minor, she should be able to choose alternative treatment.

The girl's father, who went against his family and the church's strict teachings by agreeing to the Alberta treatments, said his daughter's statement was "choreographed" by church elders.