In the Matter of McCauley

A Superior Court judge authorized the physicians at Children’s Hospital in Boston (hospital) to give blood transfusions to Elisha McCauley. Her parents, practicing Jehovah’s Witnesses, appealed. We transferred the case to this court on our own motion. They argue that the judge’s order was unconstitutional because it violated their parental and religious rights.

The facts as we have them are these. On the morning of July 19, 1989, Michael and Zelia McCauley brought their eight year old daughter, Elisha, to Leonard Morse Hospital. After a series of tests, the physicians there made an initial…