Raleigh Fitkin-Paul Morgan Memorial Hospital v. Anderson

The plaintiff hospital brought an action in the Chancery Division of the Superior Court seeking authority to administer blood transfusions to the defendant Willimina Anderson in the event that such transfusions should be necessary to save her life and the life of her unborn child. The child is quick, the pregnancy being beyond the 32nd week. Mrs. Anderson had notified the hospital that she did not wish blood transfusions for the reason that they would be contrary to her religious conviction as a Jehovah’s Witness. The evidence establishes a probability that at some point in the pregnancy Mrs.…