



CapeTalk caller Harry describes to Kieno Kammies how his anaesthetist dad once lost a child on the operating table after the parents refused a transfusion.

He says a discussion on air about withholding medical treatment for children brought back an old memory for him when he was a child. Harry recalls what he says was a horrendous story his father recounted after returning from work at the Wynberg Hospital after a long night in the operating theatre.

He had worked all night...to save the life of a young child whose parents were Jehovah's Witnesses. He was trying to keep this child alive. Harry, Caller - Cape Town

He says the boy's parents were standing outside the theatre and were warned repeatedly that the child would not survive without a blood transfusion.

They constantly refused to allow permission for the child to get the transfusion. Harry, Caller - Cape Town

He says doctors in that era probably did not realise they could make a High Court application to overturn the decision.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, the child died.

Listen to the story below: