A Legal Breakthrough
IN April of 1995, a significant court victory was won. It all started on January 28, 1992, when Luz Nereida Acevedo Quiles, 24, was admitted to El Buen Pastor Hospital in Puerto Rico for elective surgery. Upon admission, she stated both orally and in writing that as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, she would not accept a blood transfusion. (Acts 15:28, 29) The hospital personnel involved, including the doctor who treated her, were well aware of her wishes.
Two days after her operation, Luz lost an excessive amount of blood and developed acute anemia due to hemorrhaging. The attending physician, Dr. José Rodríguez Rodríguez, believed that the only way to help her was to administer a blood transfusion. Therefore, without her knowledge or consent, he sought a court order to transfuse Luz.
Although Luz was fully conscious and able to speak for herself, Dr. Rodríguez Rodríguez insisted that because of the urgency of the case, there was no time to get anyone’s consent. The district attorney, Eduardo Pérez Soto, signed the form, and the district judge, the Honorable Ángel Luis Rodríguez Ramos, issued a court order for the blood transfusion.
Thus, on January 31, 1992, Luz was taken to the operating room, where she was transfused. During the transfusion, she heard some of the hospital personnel laughing. Others scolded her, saying that what was being done to her was for her own good. She fought to the best of her ability—all in vain. By the end of the day, Luz had received four units of blood.
Luz’ case was neither the first nor the last involving blood transfusions and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Puerto Rico. Prior to her experience, at least 15 court orders had been issued for blood transfusions against the wishes of adult Jehovah’s Witnesses, and more have been issued since. Tragically, in one case the court order was acted on, and a blood transfusion was forced upon a patient while she was unconscious.
Luz’ fight did not end in the operating room, however. In October 1993 a lawsuit was filed against the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The case was heard by the Superior Court, and on April 18, 1995, a decision was reached in her favor. The court stated that the order to transfuse blood was “unconstitutional and deprived the plaintiff of her right of free exercise of religion, her privacy and bodily self-determination without due process of law.”
This ruling was significant, for it was the first time that a court in Puerto Rico had ruled in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses in a case concerning blood transfusion. The judgment elicited a tremendous reaction. A press conference was held, with major newspaper, radio, and television journalists present.
That same night a radio program aired an interview with one of Luz’ attorneys. The audience was invited to phone in and ask questions. Many doctors and lawyers called and expressed their favorable reaction to the case. One caller said: “Science has not been able to ascertain that a blood transfusion will save lives, and it is a fallacy to think that way.” He also stated: “Soon, blood transfusions will go down in history as one of the biggest aberrations and mistakes of modern medicine.”
A highly esteemed law professor later called the Watch Tower Society’s branch office and expressed his deep satisfaction with what he termed “a resounding victory.” He added that the court ruling champions the constitutional rights, not of Jehovah’s Witnesses alone, but of all citizens of Puerto Rico.