High Court Takes Guardianship of Baby Will, the Baby at the Centre of Vaccinated Donor Blood Dispute
December 7, 2022
PHOTO: Mohammad Alafeshat
A baby who urgently needs heart surgery has been placed under guardianship of the High Court until completion of his surgery and post-operative recovery.
Te Whatu Ora asked the High Court to take over guardianship of the baby, whose operation had been delayed because his parents did not want doctors to use blood from anyone who had the Covid-19 vaccine.
The four-month-old urgently needs open heart surgery, which is likely to require a blood transfusion.
In a just-released decision, Justice Gault also said doctors from Te Whatu Ora had been made agents of the court to carry out the surgery, including the adminstration of any blood products.
They were instructed to keep the baby’s parents “informed at all reasonable times of the nature and progress of (the baby’s) condition and treatment”.
His parents were agents of the court for all his other care.
A request by the family’s lawyer to force the NZ Blood service to take blood from an unvaccinated donor of their choosing for the surgery was declined.
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2022/2022-NZHC-3283.pdf