Docs 'forced to give teen blood'

DEPT: PARENTS' CONSENT NOT NEEDED IF HE GETS WORSE

- Masoka Dube

Doctors will be forced to conduct a blood transfusion on a Mpumalanga teenager without the consent of the parents should his condition get worse, the Gauteng department of health said.

The 14-year-old teenager's liver transplant surgery has been on hold for three months because his father is refusing to allow his son to have a blood transfusion.

The father, whose name cannot be disclosed due to the sensitivity of the matter, told The Citizen as a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, his family is not allowed to undergo the process.

However, the department said: “South African law requires that the best interests of the child remain paramount.

“Clinicians provide counselling, explore alternatives and act according to ethical and legal frameworks.

“If parental refusal of treatment places the child at significant risk and no medically accepted alternative exists, established legal and ethical processes exist to protect the child. In this case, the patient continues to receive appropriate monitoring and treatment.”