Faith or Foolishness? Nigerian Mum Allows Her 2 Week-Old Baby Die For Religious Reason

According to a Nigerian doctor on twitter, a mother acting out of religion chose to let her 2 week-old son die rather than accept a blood transfusion that would have saved him.

A harrowing experience for the doctors as they were forced to let the woman take the child to a ‘preferred hospital’ after the mother refused a blood transfusion due to her religious beliefs.

According to the mother, ”God said we shouldn’t take blood”.

The doctor, Chioma, who shared the sad story on her timeline, says the boy died in the other hospital they took him to.

“Madam your baby needs to undergo an urgent surgery and he’ll need blood transfusion too. He’s anaemic.”

Mum moves over to baby’s bed.

“Nwam, ngwanu, you will die na. God said we shouldn’t take blood.”

We begged. They refused. He was 2 weeks old. I cried. Why?

Faith or Murder?????.”

”I cried Doc, when they signed against and took him away. He died in the other ‘Preferred’ hospital where they took him. I keep asking what is the boundary. Where can we step in and say NO, we’ll do this letter take legal actions or something. I’m tired of this really.

I believe in miracles. But, in this case, when there was an alternative…? It was pure selfishness to take away his right to live. In his case, what he needed was blood as he was going for a major surgery.”

Based on reports gathered online, some religions refuse blood transfusion because they believe that the Bible prohibits ingesting blood and that Christians should not accept blood transfusions or donate or store their own blood for transfusion.

The belief is based on an interpretation of various biblical texts, including Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:10, and Acts 15:28,29.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that:

Blood represents life and is sacred to God.
After it has been removed from a creature, the only use of blood that God has authorized is for the atonement of sins.
When a Christian abstains from blood, they are in effect expressing faith that only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can truly redeem them and save their life.
Blood must not be eaten or transfused, even in the case of a medical emergency.
Blood leaving the body of a human or animal must be disposed of.
Certain medical procedures involving blood fractions or that use a patient’s own blood during the course of a medical procedure, such as hemodilution or cell salvage, are a matter of personal choice, according to what a person’s conscience permits.
A baptized Witness who unrepentantly accepts a blood transfusion is deemed to have disassociated himself from the group by abandoning its doctrines and is subsequently subject to organized shunning by other members.

The doctrine was introduced in 1945, and has undergone some changes since then.

Members of the group who voluntarily accept a transfusion and are not deemed repentant are regarded as having disassociated themselves from the group by abandoning its doctrines and are subsequently shunned by members of the organization.