A young woman of the Jehovah's Witness faith who suffered a massive blood loss after giving birth in the Coombe hospital refused a transfusion on a number of occasions, the High Court was told yesterday.
Ms K (24), from the Congo, speaks little English. Her friend, Fifina Paulo, had translated to Ms K that medical staff believed she needed a blood transfusion and her life was at risk, the court heard.
Ms K had, in her native French, asked her to explain to hospital staff that Ms K was "a Jehovah's witness" and "did not want blood", Ms Paulo said.
Ms Paulo was giving evidence in the long-running action by the hospital in which it is seeking a declaration that it was entitled to seek High Court orders permitting it to transfuse Ms K on September 21st, 2006, after she suffered a massive haemorrhage following a difficult birth.
The hospital has said it was not told Ms K was a Jehovah's Witness until after the medical emergency arose. It claims Ms K's constitutional rights to freedom of conscience and the free practice of religion do not extend to enabling her to decline appropriate medical treatment. It also claims it would be contrary to public order and morality if Ms K could be permitted to place her life in danger by declining routine medical treatment.
Ms K in a counter-claim contends the administration of the transfusion was a breach of her rights and that she was entitled to refuse such medical treatment.
Ms Paulo, who is from Angola and also a member of the Jehovah's Witness faith, told John Rogers SC, for Ms K, that Ms K came to Ireland first in late 2005 and returned in April 2006. Ms K had lost three babies in the Congo and feared another loss.
Ms Paulo, who is married to a brother of Ms K's husband, said Ms K sought refugee status in Ireland, although her husband did not, and came back to Dublin after a time in Sligo. Ms Paulo said she was with Ms K at the Coombe to act as a translator.
Ms K began to bleed after giving birth and a midwife told her Ms K "will die in a few minutes".
Peter Barnes, a Jehovah's Witness minister who worked in the Congo for several decades, said Ms K was a member of the congregation in the Congo before coming to Ireland. He first met her in either later 2005 or early 2006.
Cross-examined by Gerard Hogan SC, for the hospital, Mr Barnes said that taking blood or blood products was against the beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses. This belief was the choice of each individual, he said.
He agreed with Mr Hogan it was "unusual" and "extraordinary" that Ms K had been registered as a Roman Catholic by two hospitals where she attended before giving birth.
Mr Barnes said Ms K had an advance direction card, carried by members of his faith to make medical staff aware that a person was a Jehovah's Witness. He understood Ms K's card was in French and was never produced to the hospital.
The case continues.