National Post

In the face of death, she chose religion

DECISION TO REJECT TRANSFUSIO­N WAS PATIENT’S TO MAKE: CORONER

- Graeme Hamilton

The day before she went into labour with her first child, an excited Éloïse Dupuis had spoken to her aunt. “She said, ‘ Do you realize, Auntie, that in a few days I will be holding my life’s dream in my arms?’ ” Manon Boyer recounted Tuesday.

After hemorrhagi­ng following a caesarian birth, Dupuis, 27, a Jehovah’s Witness, repeatedly refused the blood transfusio­ns that could have saved her life. Her baby was healthy, but Dupuis’ vital organs failed, and she was dead within a week.

News of her Oct. 12, 2016, death sparked intense debate in a province grappling with limits on religious freedom. Critics said her life had been sacrificed for twisted religious beliefs, and there were suggestion­s she had been pressured to forego treatment. But in a report made pub- lic Tuesday, Quebec coroner Luc Malouin concluded that Dupuis chose freely to refuse transfusio­ns with full understand­ing of the consequenc­es.

“I have no doubt that the medical staff tried everything to get Ms. Dupuis and her family to change their minds about the need to use blood products to save her life,” the coroner wrote. He noted the family members were all Jehovah’s Witnesses. “In accordance with their religious principles, they refused the only medical treatment available to prevent death.”

Malouin wrote that early in her pregnancy, Dupuis advised staff at the birthing centre in Lévis, Que., that she would not accept transfused blood, which Jehovah’s Witnesses believe is forbidden by the Bible.

After complicati­ons during her labour, Dupuis was transferre­d on Oct. 6 from the birthing centre to Hôtel- Dieu Hospital in Lévis, where a C-section was performed and her baby was delivered in good health.

But soon afterwards she began hemorrhagi­ng and was transferre­d to intensive care. She was diagnosed with anemia — a shortage of red blood cells — and doctors performed a hysterecto­my.

In studying her medical records, Malouin found five occasions when Dupuis told doctors she did not want a transfusio­n, even as her condition deteriorat­ed. “Refusal of transfusio­n even if death is the result,” one note said the evening after she gave birth.

After she was sedated and no longer able to express her wishes, her husband and parents maintained the refusal to provide Dupuis with blood. She died Oct. 12 of multiple organ failure caused by severe loss of blood.

The coroner noted that her death struck a chord in Quebec, where the once prevalent practice of Catholicis­m has been largely abandoned and strongly held religious beliefs are often viewed with suspicion.

“At a time when a majority of Quebecers do not actively practise any religion, this notion of respecting religious rules seems to come from a different era,” Malouin wrote. “There was a time in Quebec when such rules were very present and governed the lives of all. It is no longer the situation today, but the choice to adhere or not to religious rules must be respected.”

In a second case from last year studied by Malouin, doctors in a Montreal hospital had to wait six hours before providing transfusio­ns to Mirlande Cadet, also a Jehovah’s Witness.

She had indicated at admission that she did not want transfusio­ns, and when her condition deteriorat­ed after a caesarian birth, her husband maintained the refusal. He relented after the woman’s parents intervened, but Cadet died on Oct. 3. Malouin said it was impossible for him to determine whether the delay in transfusin­g played an important role in her death from a pulmonary infection.

In his report on Dupuis’ death, Malouin said the law is clear that adults of sound mind are free to refuse medical treatment. The same is not true of minors. Last September, the Quebec Superior Court authorized the McGill University Health Centre to give blood transfusio­ns to a 14-year-old cancer patient, who had refused the treatment because of her beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Boyer described her niece as an outgoing woman who occasional­ly skirted the edicts of her religion. “Her favourite movie was Twilight. She watched it in secret at her friends,” she said. “She listened to disco music in secret in her car because they are not supposed to.”

Dupuis’ husband, Paul- André Roy, sent a message to media Tuesday saying his wife’s refusal of transfusio­n “was out of respect for her conviction­s, to which she attached a great price.”

But Boyer believes the price was too high. “I agree with freedom of religion, but not at any cost,” she said. “Her son Liam had the right to have a mother. He had the right to feel secure. He had the right to be breastfed. He got nothing.”

 ?? FAMILY HANDOUT ?? Éloïse Dupuis made her treatment wishes clear, says a coroner’s report.
FAMILY HANDOUT Éloïse Dupuis made her treatment wishes clear, says a coroner’s report.

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