New Zealand's High Court will take temporary guardianship of the baby until he has recovered from the surgery. (CNN-Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)
A critically-ill six-month-old baby will be placed under the temporary guardianship of New Zealand's High Court after his parents refused to allow him to undergo lifesaving heart surgery using blood from people vaccinated against COVID-19.
Handing down the judgment on Wednesday, Justice Ian Gault ruled that the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, would remain under the court's guardianship until he had recovered from the surgery.
The court also appointed two doctors as its agents to oversee issues around the operation and the administration of blood, according to court documents.
The baby has a congenital heart defect and needs urgent open-heart surgery to survive -- but the operation has been delayed by his parents' insistence that only blood from donors not vaccinated against COVID-19 be used.
The case has drawn attention to the ramifications of vaccine misinformation two years into global inoculation drives.
The baby's parents believed there were "spike proteins in the blood of people who have been vaccinated and that these proteins were causing unexpected deaths relating to transfusions," according to the judgment.
The parents had previously demanded the New Zealand Blood Service take a donation from a person chosen by the family, but the agency refused and said it does not make a distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated donors.
The court heard that Dr Kirsten Finucane, the chief pediatric cardiac surgeon at Auckland's Starship Hospital, had told the parents it was "simply impractical to have a directed donor."
Finucane had consulted with other experts and found that a cardiac bypass without using blood or blood products would not be an option for the baby's surgery, the court heard.
With the parents and doctors unable to agree on the infant's treatment and blood transfusion, the New Zealand Health Service made an application under the Care of Children Act in November, requesting the court to appoint a doctor to take temporary guardianship of the baby for his medical care only.
In a statement, the parents' lawyer Sue Grey said they had spent "many hours" considering their options after the court ruling and had concluded there was "no time to appeal."
"The priority for the family is to enjoy a peaceful time with their baby until the operation, and to support him through the operation," she said.
Following the court's ruling, Dr. Mike Shepherd, Auckland's interim director of the New Zealand Health Service, said its decisions were "always made with the best interests of the child in mind."
"We acknowledge the decision made by the court, following our application in relation to the baby's surgery and recognize this is a difficult situation for all involved," Shepherd said in a statement.
New Zealand has relatively high vaccination rates for COVID-19, with about 90% of people aged 12 or above having had two shots and over 70% of eligible adults having received a first booster shot, according to its ministry of health.
The federal government is seeking to delay the extension of assisted dying eligibility to people whose sole condition is a mental disorder until March 17, 2024.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
It's about as strange (and cute) as holidays get. So how did Groundhog Day go from a kooky local tradition to an annual celebration even those of us who don't worry about winter can find the fun in?
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
Australia is removing the monarchy from its bank notes. The nation's new $5 bill will feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III. But the king is still expected to appear on coins that currently bear the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The Quebec rodent who predicted whether spring would arrive early, Fred la Marmotte, died the day before Groundhog Day.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
A long-time CBC radio producer who was the victim of a random assault in Toronto last week has died, the public broadcaster confirms.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
A Quebec woman said she was very surprised to find her stolen Audi had been used in what’s being described as an “absolutely insane” Ontario mall robbery.
The Quebec rodent who predicted whether spring would arrive early, Fred la Marmotte, died the day before Groundhog Day.
Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam has seen her shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter.
On CTVNews.ca and YouTube: Health journalist Avis Favaro joins our Trend Line podcast, for an in-depth episode dedicated to the growing crises facing the Canadian health-care system.
Two RCMP officers are accused of manslaughter in the 2017 death of an Indigenous man in Prince George, B.C., prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Higher grocery prices are expected to hit stores across Canada soon as a blackout on price increases over the holiday season comes to an end.
A suicide bomber who killed 101 people at a mosque in northwest Pakistan this week had disguised himself in a police uniform and did not raise suspicion among guards, the provincial police chief said on Thursday.
Israel struck targets in the Gaza Strip early Thursday hours after Palestinian militants fired a rocket at Israel, the military said, the latest in an uptick of violence in the region.
Top European Union officials arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials as rescue crews dug through the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine struck by a Russian missile, killing at least three people and wounding about 20 others.
A couple abandoned their baby at an airport check-in desk in Tel Aviv, Israel after arriving without a ticket for the child.
Israeli aircraft carried out several raids at a militant site in the Gaza Strip early Thursday, the Israeli military said, hours after Palestinian militants fired a rocket into Israel's south, raising already heightened tensions under the country's new ultranationalist government.
North Korea on Thursday threatened the 'toughest reaction' to the United States' expanding joint military exercises with South Korea to counter the North's growing nuclear weapons ambitions, claiming that the allies were pushing tensions to an 'extreme red line.'
The federal government is seeking to delay the extension of assisted dying eligibility to people whose sole condition is a mental disorder until March 17, 2024.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Dominic Barton, the former global managing director of McKinsey & Company, says he had no involvement in federal contracts awarded to the firm in recent years.
On CTVNews.ca and YouTube: Health journalist Avis Favaro joins our Trend Line podcast, for an in-depth episode dedicated to the growing crises facing the Canadian health-care system.
Lawmakers in Finland approved amendments Wednesday that will make it substantially easier for people to change their legally recognized gender in the Nordic country.
New guidelines on long-term care services by the Health Standards Organization say residents should receive at least four hours of direct care each day. If you or a loved one are living in long-term care, we want to hear from you.
After a tiny radioactive capsule went missing in the Australian outback, an expert in Canada says the likelihood of the same happening in this country is unlikely, given our strong regulations governing the handling of radioactive materials.
Chinese scientists have successfully cloned three 'super cows' that can produce an unusually high amount of milk, state media reported, hailing it as a breakthrough for China's dairy industry to reduce its dependence on imported breeds.
An archeological team from Saint Mary's University will travel to France this summer to use ground-penetrating radar and other technology to assist a United States defence agency recover and identify military personnel missing since the Second World War.
When the opera 'La Flambeau' premieres next week in Montreal, Black performers will be front and centre in an artistic medium where they have historically been under-represented.
Canadian Actor Ryan Reynolds dropped by a Toronto college on Wednesday, surprising students in the midst of a school project.
Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Kate Bush, Iron Maiden, Cyndi Lauper, Soundgarden, Sheryl Crow and the late George Michael are the 2023 nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, reflecting a mix of country, soul, hip-hop, metal, pop, rap-rock and grunge.
The European Central Bank chugged ahead with another outsized interest rate hike Thursday and vowed more to come, underlining its drive to subdue inflation even as the European economy slows and the U.S. Federal Reserve eases its pace of increases.
Global energy giant Shell said Thursday that its annual profits doubled to a record high last year as oil and natural gas prices soared after Russia invaded Ukraine. London-based Shell Plc posted adjusted earnings of $39.9 billion for 2022 in its financial results for the final three months of the year.
Higher grocery prices are expected to hit stores across Canada soon as a blackout on price increases over the holiday season comes to an end.
As Black History Month gets underway, Canada Post has unveiled a new stamp honouring Chloe Cooley, a young Black woman who was known to challenge her enslavement in the late 18th century.
The rising demand for ayahuasca has led to hundreds of psychedelic churches in the U.S., which advocates say are protected from prosecution by a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The U.K. Supreme Court says people who live in glass houses have a right to privacy too.
A group of young boys who fled the carnage during the war in Ukraine arrived in Quebec City Wednesday for a hockey tournament that brings players together from around the world.
John Herdman is staying put. After a morning of speculation fuelled by a New Zealand report that the Canada men's soccer coach had agreed to take over the 105th-ranked All Whites, Herdman and Canada Soccer put out the fire with a statement Wednesday.
Brittney Griner's return to the WNBA this summer after being traded in a dramatic prisoner swap in December with Russia has collided with free agency, creating potential travel complications for the league out of safety concerns for her.
A good winter tire will always outperform an all-season tire in snowy, icy driving conditions and be the safer alternative. Edmunds' experts explain the importance of winter tires and offer advice on when to use them and how much you should pay.
The U.S. Justice Department has requested documents from Tesla related to its Autopilot and 'Full Self-Driving' features, according to a regulatory filing.
Europe is taking another big step toward cutting its energy ties with Russia, banning imports of diesel fuel and other products made from crude oil in Russian refineries. The European Union ban takes effect Feb. 5 following its embargo on coal and most oil from Russia.
