Parent’s Religious Right Outweighs Child’s Need for Mother, Court Says

In a precedent-setting case, New York’s highest court on Thursday said a parent’s right to reject life-saving medical procedures outweighs the child’s need for a mother or father.

The Court of Appeals also ruled that the state cannot prohibit parents from engaging in dangerous activities because of a risk their children might be left orphans.

The ruling upheld the right of a Jehovah’s Witness to reject a blood transfusion even though she might die and leave her newborn child motherless. The court said the case was the first it has ever decided in which a parent’s constitutional rights were pitted against the welfare of her child.

“There is no question that the state has an interest in protecting the welfare of children,” the court said. But it added, “The state does not prohibit parents from engaging in dangerous activities because there is a risk that their children will be left orphans.”

The ruling comes 13 months after a medical center on Long Island obtained a court order forcing Denise Nicoleau to have a blood transfusion after hemorrhaging during a Cesarean section. Nicoleau had just delivered a healthy baby boy.