Two parents in New Zealand have been stripped of custody of their four-month-old baby because they did not want him to receive blood from a covid-vaccinated donor during surgery.
The health authorities took the case to court, winning temporary guardianship of the boy, and they now have permission to perform the procedure using blood of their choosing.
The parents of the four-month-old baby were told in November that their child needs emergency heart surgery, as the boy suffered from an unusual heart defect. The parents were concerned about the type of blood that would be transfused during the operation, however, and asked that he only receive blood that had not been taken from donors who had taken the covid vaccine.
“We want them to schedule the operation as soon as possible, but we are concerned about the blood that will be used in the operation,” Samantha, the child’s mother, said in an interview with former news anchor Liz Gunn in November.
The doctors and the blood banks ignored the parents’ request, insisting that Covid-vaccinated blood is “safe” to use. They further indicated that patients and their families do not have the power to request blood from specific donors for a procedure. The parents then offered to provide their own donors, who were willing to provide sufficient blood for the operation. The authorities rejected this proposal as well.
“We are okay with what the doctors otherwise want to do, these are among the best doctors to handle this, but they are not flexible,” Cole, the baby’s father, said in the same interview. “We just want him to get the best blood.”
Instead of granting the request, the health authorities chose to demand guardianship of the boy in court on the grounds that the parents were denying their child essential healthcare, thus clearing the way for the surgery to be performed using blood from covid-vaccinated donors. At the end of November, an emergency hearing was held regarding the boy.
The parents’ lawyer, Sue Grey, said that this case cannot be regarded as one of parents denying healthcare to their child, since it was rather the case that the parents want to give their child better care than what the state is offering.
“Because they label my clients as conspiracy theorists, their position is that everything my clients say can be ignored,” Grey told New Zealand’s NZ Herald.
The verdict came at the beginning of December, clearly stating that Samantha and Cole have temporarily lost custody of their own child, as reported by The Guardian. The court has instead given custody to the health authorities, who now intend to carry out the operation. This means that the authorities now have the legal right to overrule parents when it comes to decisions regarding their own children’s healthcare.
The boy is expected to undergo surgery immediately, most likely with covid-vaccinated blood. His parents will likely regain full custody only in January of next year.
