The parents of a baby who needs urgent heart surgery but won’t grant consent unless blood comes from unvaccinated donors, have previously consented to blood from the general blood supply being used in an earlier surgery, the court has heard.
Today evidence was given at the High Court in Auckland as Te Whatu Ora Health NZ wants the court to take guardianship of a four-month-old baby who needs urgent heart surgery. They have applied for this under the Care of Children Act.
The judge has reserved his decision.
The parents want the surgery to happen, but only if the donated blood needed for the surgery comes from people who have not had a Covid-19 vaccination.
Their lawyer, Sue Grey, claimed there were serious concerns about the safety of the vaccine.
Medical professionals across Aotearoa refute there are any safety issues with donated blood.
Hundreds of supporters and protesters gathered outside the court, many wielding signs alleging safety issues with the Covid-19 vaccine and that the government controlled the media.
Applause burst out when Grey arrived at court.
The revelation came in the Auckland High Court today, 1News' Logan Church reports. (Source: 1News)
The family sat in the public gallery during the hearing.
Application not taken lightly
During the hearing, lawyer for Health NZ, Paul White, said the organisation does not make applications for guardianship lightly.
“These cases tend to most commonly occur in the case of Jehovah's Witness and blood transfusions,” he said.
"What we have are loving parents who love their child, with contrasting views to the medical professionals."
He said the only disagreement was over the donated blood - his survival depended on the guardianship application being granted.
White also said the baby had already received donated blood from the general blood supply in a previous surgery, with consent of the mother.
He said it was “curious” the parents so strongly objected to blood products being used when previous products had been used with “no adverse consequences"
He questioned the families claim of having 30 people “pre-screened” and ready to give blood, saying it was unclear what screening had actually been done.
Concern was also raised about the baby being in court today, and whether the baby could pick up infections which may affect the potential surgery.
Grey said they had unvaccinated donors lined up, some of whom were outside court.
“Nobody knows the risk of a little delay in the heart surgery as against the risk of providing blood which the parties now all agree may contain some residual traces of mRNA from the vaccine... or the spike protein or the other factors that we know... can cause myocarditis and death,” she said.
The baby was doing well and gaining weight, she said.
“It’s a case of balancing the risk of something we don’t fully know about with another risk we don’t know about.”
On the issue of the family previously consenting to blood being used in an earlier surgery, Grey said the circumstances were different.
She said that surgery initially did not need donated blood, but during the operation blood was needed.
“They signed the form in good faith,” she said, as they recognised there was an urgent need.
“They didn’t want him to have blood.”
There was a heightened security presence outside the courtroom where the hearing took place, with some of the hundreds of protesters outside threatening to “rise up” if the court’s decision went against their wishes.
No safety issues
Medical professionals largely refute any allegations there are safety issues with the blood supply.
“Although unlikely to be present in blood products, any components or products of the vaccine (nanoparticles, mRNA or the spike protein) would not be harmful if they were to be transferred through blood transfusion,” said Dr Nikki Turner of the Immunisation Advisory Centre.
"The … Pfizer vaccine has been extensively used internationally and shown to have an excellent safety profile.”
In an earlier statement, the New Zealand Blood Service said the organisation has a statutory responsibility to ensure the supply of appropriate blood, blood products, tissues and related services.
“We have one of the safest blood supplies in the world and every year in New Zealand around 29,000 people have their lives saved or improved thanks to the generosity of our 100% voluntary and non-renumeration community of dedicated blood and plasma donors.”
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