Sextuplet parents lose appeal

Globe and Mail/June 2, 2007

Vancouver -- - The parents of sextuplets born in Vancouver in January have lost an application for leave to appeal a decision that blocks them from cross-examining doctors on why blood transfusions were given to four of the surviving babies.

The parents, who are devout Jehovah's Witnesses, turned to the B.C. Court of Appeal after the Supreme Court ruled that doctors from B.C. Women's Hospital & Health Centre could provide evidence through affidavits, without appearing for cross- examination.

Shane Brady, the parents' lawyer, had argued in the Court of Appeal that being able to cross-examine the doctors was a matter of fundamental justice.