The baby in Aotearoa New Zealand whose parents did not want him to receive blood from people who may have had the covid vaccine underwent urgent heart surgery today.

Anti-vaccination lawyer Sue Grey confirmed to RNZ Checkpoint late this afternoon that the baby, known as baby W, had undergone surgery today.

Grey said she had received a text message from the baby’s parents confirming the surgery was finished and the six-month-old was doing well.

• READ MORE: No appeal against ruling in NZ baby blood case, surgery to go ahead
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Baby W was this week placed under the guardianship of the High Court until the completion of the surgery and post-operative recovery.

Te Whatu Ora asked the High Court to take guardianship of the baby this week to allow the surgery to go ahead with blood from the NZ Blood Service.

Doctors from Te Whatu Ora were made agents of the court to carry out the surgery, including the administration of any blood products, while his parents were agents of the court for all of his other care.

Protesters gathered near Auckland’s Starship Hospital today to support the parents.

Protesters near hospital
About 60 protesters were near the hospital many with signs such as “do not experiment on our children” as they awaited an update on whether the operation had gone ahead this morning.

A new ruling last night ordered the parents not to obstruct health staff at Starship Hospital.

In a statement this morning, police confirmed they were present at the hospital yesterday evening and overnight.

In a statement last night, Justice Gault said he had been informed by the lawyer acting for Te Whatu Ora that the baby’s parents had prevented doctors from taking blood tests, performing a chest X-ray and an anaesthetic assessment.

The parents objected and the hospital asked the police for help.

A new ruling last night ordered the parents not to prevent medical staff from carrying out their work.

The health service said officials would not be commenting on specific details of individual patient care or providing clinical status updates for ethical and privacy reasons.

Person trespassed
Te Whatu Ora Te Toka Tumai Auckland Interim Director Dr Mike Shepherd had said it remained a priority to work alongside the baby’s whānau to care for him.

“In addition, we’re doing everything we can to support our teams through a difficult situation for all involved,” he said.

He confirmed a person had been trespassed from the hospital.

“As general comment, from time to time, it may be necessary to trespass an individual or individuals from our site, sometimes only for a few hours, if they are impacting on our clinical team’s ability to care for patients.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

The parents of a New Zealand baby at the centre of a legal dispute that has made global headlines will not be appealing against a judge’s decision to hand guardianship of the child to the High Court.

The four-month-old — known only as Baby W — requires urgent open heart surgery, with both blood and blood products required for the operation and potentially its aftermath.

Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand took the case to court because the parents refused to allow blood transfusions from anyone who might have had the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine.

• READ MORE: Vaccinated donor blood: Parents’ meeting with doctors ‘hijacked’ by anti-vax support person
• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: Interview with University of Otago bioethics lecturer Josephine Johnstone duration

The NZ Blood Service does not differentiate between blood from vaccinated and non-vaccinated people, saying there was “no evidence that previous vaccination affects the quality of blood for transfusion”.

A judge on Wednesday ruled in favour of Te Whatu Ora, allowing the surgery to go ahead with whatever product the NZ Blood Service provides. Doctors, having been made agents of the court for the surgery, said on Wednesday afternoon they would be ready to operate within 48 hours.

The family’s lawyer Sue Grey and high-profile media supporter Liz Gunn said this morning there was no time to appeal against the court’s decision, but they had confidence the child would “get the best possible care with the best, safest blood” because “the government cannot afford anything to go wrong for Baby W as the world is watching”.

“The priority for the family is to enjoy a peaceful time with their baby until the operation, and to support him through the operation,” the pair said in a post on the New Zealand Outdoors and Freedom Party Facebook page.

Grey co-leads the party.

The baby will be in intensive care for up to a week and under Te Whatu Ora’s guardianship possibly until the end of January, allowing time for their recovery. The doctors were told to keep the parents “informed at all reasonable times of the nature and progress of [the baby’s] condition and treatment”.

Te Whatu Ora has been approached for comment.

Judge’s ruling expected
The ruling should not have come as a surprise, University of Otago bioethics lecturer  Josephine Johnstone told Morning Report on Thursday.

“This may seem like a very 2022 case and it is in many ways, but it connects to lines of decision over time where there have been disputes about what’s in the best interests of a child that has very serious medical needs,” she said.

“So this is consistent with previous cases around the refusal of blood products for children whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses… or refusal of medical care for cancer treatment for children whose parents have alternative health and science[ views, which is sort of similar to this. In many ways it’s consistent with those decisions. It’s not really a break in that way.”

Johnstone said the parents’ authority over their child’s health and upbringing was being limited in only a very minor way.

“The parents still have all of the other decision-making authority that parents have. And parents do have enormous latitude to make decisions about how to raise their children — what religion to raise them, what kinds of beliefs, what kinds of home to create, what kind of traditions, they have enormous decision-making power about children’s [medical treatment], but it’s not unlimited.

“In very rare cases where it’s a life-and-death situation, we can expect the courts to step in — and that’s exactly what happened.”

Johnstone’s view was backed up by Rebecca Keenan, a former nurse who now works as a barrister, specialising in medical law.

Put child ‘firmly first’
“[The court has] put the child firmly first and have gone by the evidence and supported the health board,” she told Morning Report.

“From reading the judgment, you can see that the parents have been taking their baby out of hospital, against medical opinion, and there’s obviously been a real breakdown in the relationship between the parents and the medical staff.”

Wednesday’s judgment outlined a meeting in late November during which the parents’ support person “proceeded to pressurise the specialists with her theory about conspiracies in New Zealand and even said that deaths in infants getting transfusions were occurring in Starship Hospital”.

Johnstone said while having a support person in meetings with medical staff was a right, it was clear in this case they were not helpful.

“One has to imagine that the involvement of some of the anti-vaccine campaigners has escalated not just this case at the national level, but even the discussions between the family and their medical team, so that’s explicitly mentioned in the case and is definitely a factor in how things must have got to the point where a court order would be needed.”

While not an unexpected ruling, Johnstone fears it might further strain the relationship between parents with alternative views on medical matters and their doctors.

“Any family who has these views and has a very sick child, their healthcare providers are going to have to work that much harder to keep them engaged and keep their trust … a big challenge,” she said.

Pleased over care
Speaking to RNZ’s First Up earlier on Thursday morning, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said he was “pleased” Baby W would soon be getting the care he needs.

“Nobody underestimates the emotion and the challenge and the difficulty here, but we have to do what’s right for the child.”

The case has made headlines globally, with coverage on BBC News, CNN and The Guardian.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.