ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 24, 1996 TAG: 9612240087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: Whatever happened to...
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
One month after receiving court-sanctioned blood transfusions despite her earlier religious objections - but which may have saved her life - Doris McDaniel has improved enough to be home for the holidays.
McDaniel returned to her Southeast Roanoke home Sunday, family members said, after spending nearly two months in Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital when complications from surgery left her close to death.
Prior to surgery, McDaniel - a 72-year-old Jehovah's Witness - said repeatedly in signed forms and in conversations with doctors that she did not want to receive blood. Many Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds based on biblical passages urging people to "abstain from blood" (Acts 15:28).
But once it became clear that McDaniel needed blood to live, family members said, she nodded "yes" to them from her hospital bed to indicate that she had changed her mind. Doctors, however, said they were ethically bound to follow the patient's earlier wishes, contending that McDaniel - who was sedated, unable to speak and on a ventilator at the time - was unable to make an informed decision.
McDaniel's family sought an emergency order in Roanoke Circuit Court. On Nov. 20, Judge Robert Doherty authorized doctors to administer the transfusions, essentially ruling that McDaniel's family members were the best judges of her state of mind.
Hours after receiving the blood, McDaniel opened her eyes for the first time in nearly a month and acknowledged the presence of Richard McDaniel, her husband of 53 years. She's been making a steady recovery ever since, Richard McDaniel said Monday.
At the time of Doherty's ruling, doctors said they were not certain a blood transfusion would save Doris McDaniel's life. But family members are convinced that it did.
"It made a great big difference, because everything she had was failing before then," Richard McDaniel said. If not for the transfusions, he said, "she wouldn't have lasted past Thanksgiving day."
Doris McDaniel, who was unconscious throughout the unusual legal case, has since been informed of what happened. "She said she understands," Richard McDaniel said. "She understands perfectly."
He said his wife was not feeling well enough to speak to a reporter Monday.
Having her mother home for Christmas is "the only gift I needed," Doris Thompson said. "All of her doctors are saying 'This is a miracle; we didn't expect this.'''
Carilion officials declined to comment on the case Monday, citing an earlier confidentiality request by members of McDaniel's family.
In opposing the family's request for an emergency order, hospital lawyers had argued earlier that doctors must follow the wishes of a patient who has the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment. When someone decides to forgo treatment and later becomes incapacitated, they said, doctors must honor the patient's request at the time he was deemed legally competent to make a decision.
Carilion had considered appealing Doherty's decision in an effort to obtain legal guidance on an issue that has not been addressed by the Virginia Supreme Court. But because the judge's decision was based mostly on his evaluation of the witnesses - and not on legal issues that an appellate court would be more likely to consider - the hospital has since decided not to appeal, according to Briggs Andrews, general counsel for Carilion.
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