Parents' religious belief results in child death

By Kang Shin-who A newborn baby with a heart disease died after she did not receive a blood transfusion due to her parents’ religious beliefs. According to a general hospital in Seoul, the 2-month-old baby died in October after her parents, Jehovah’s Witnesses, refused a blood transfusion for their child. Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that the Bible forbids people from taking other people’s blood. Earlier, the baby, identified by her surname, Lee, was hospitalized at Asan Medical Center and doctors there diagnosed that her main artery and pulmonary artery were only linked to the right ventricle, threatening her life, claiming that a blood transfusion was necessary. Facing objections from the parents, the hospital filed a court injunction to stop the parents from disrupting the hospital’s treatment having won the right to give Lee the transfusion. Lee’s parents refused to comply and transferred the child to another hospital, which they claimed succeeded in performing the same kind of surgery without a blood transfusion. The baby died less than a week after she was moved. Lee’s mother, living in North Chungcheong Province, told Yonhap News that she knew that her daughter had a problem with her heart and really wanted to give her baby a life as a mother and went to hospitals in Seoul. “When I heard her condition was more serious than I thought and required surgery demanding blood transfusions, I felt like the sky was collapsing. Following the court’s order, we transferred her to a hospital where doctors said they could conduct the surgery without blood transfusions, but my baby died before the operation,” she was quoted as saying. She said she would have adhered to surgery without a blood transfusion even if she had the chance to go back and do it over. This tragedy is likely to ignite fresh controversy over human being’s right to live, guaranteed by the Constitution and another one to follow their religious beliefs. A judge noted there is a possibility that Lee’s parents could be subject to infanticide charges, as they were aware that their daughter would die if the baby didn’t receive the operation. Experts say that if the freedom of religion conflicts with the child’s right to live, the freedom of belief is restricted by the right to live. In a similar case, the nation’s Supreme Court made a verdict in favor of the right to live. In 1980, the top court sentenced a mother of an 11-year-old child to one year and six months in prison suspended for two years for refusing to allow a blood transfusion for the child, who died after the procedure. 부모의 종교 때문에 수술 못받은 영아 사망 부모의 종교적 믿음 때문에 수혈이 필요한 수술을 받지 못한 아기가 결국 숨졌다. 12일 서울의 A 병원에 따르면, 수혈을 금기시하는 종교단체인 여호와의 증인 부부의 2개월 된 영아가 지난 10월 사망했다. 대동맥과 폐동맥이 모두 우심실로 연결되는 선천성 심기형으로 고통받던 이모 양은 서울 아산병원에 신생아 중환자실에서 치료를 받아 왔다. 하지만 수혈이 필요한 '폰탄수술' 을 받아야 살 수 있다는 의료진의 주장에도 불구, 이 양의 부모는 수술을 거부했고, 지난 10월 이들 의료진은 이씨 부부를 상대로 진료업무 방해금지 가처분 신청을 냈다. 법원에서 아산병원의 요구가 받아들여졌지만, 이씨 부부는 곧 수혈 없이도 수술이 가능하다는 A 병원으로 아이를 옮겼다. 하지만 이양은 일주일도 지나지 않아 숨졌다. 이양의 어머니 김모씨는 "지금 다시 그때로 돌아간다고 해도 무수혈 수술 방식을 고수했을 것이다. 병을 안고 태어나게 해 부모로서 너무 미안하고 이루 말할 수 없이 슬프다"고 말했다. 생후 2개월된 영아가 부모의 종교 때문에 제대로 된 치료도 받지 못하고 사망함에 따라 미처 종교적 선택권도 갖지 못한 신생아의 생명권과 종교적 신념 사이에 논란이 일 것으로 보인다. 전문가들은 종교의 자유와 인간의 생명권이 상충될 때 종교의 자유는 제한을 받을 수 있다고 말한다. 이와 유사한 사례에서도 대법원은 생명권을 우선시하는 판결을 내린바 있다. 지난 1980년 수혈을 거부하다 자신의 11살된 아이를 먼저 떠나 보낸 어머니에게 징역 1년6개월에 집행유예 2년의 선고가 내려졌다.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr