The Canadian branch of Jehovah's Witnesses has issued a statement in an attempt to quell speculation about the care of premature sextuplets born in B.C.
"Discussions about treatment are private matters between the parents and their treating medical team," it reads.
The parents, who have remained anonymous despite the intense media attention, are Jehovah's Witnesses, members of a faith that forbids them to accept blood transfusions.
The brief text issued by the Jehovah's Witnesses group states that church members are allowed to receive any modern medical intervention, but for blood transfusions, which conflicts with their faith.
Jehovah's Witnesses' spokesman Mark Ruge says that while they place a high spiritual value on their religion, it is no substitute for medical care.
The sextuplets were born last weekend at just 25 weeks and gestation and weighing between 700 and 800 grams.
Hospital officials have said transfusions are routine for premature infants, they have declined comment on the care of the sextuplets.
But Ruge said hospitals have been able to treat other babies without giving them blood.
"Hospitals in Canada and the United States have treated extremely premature infants without blood transfusions by careful attention to minimal blood sampling, clinical acceptance of lower hemoglobin levels, use of erythropoietin and iron to stimulate the natural production of red blood cells, and other recognized medical procedures and techniques," it stated.
The Jehovah's Witnesses released the statement after national and Vancouver newspaper published front-page stories reporting the babies may prompt a court battle over medical treatment and religious rights.
Ruge said it was too early to speculate about the need for intervention.
"It is important for the media and others to avoid making stereotypical assumptions regarding Jehovah's Witnesses,'' the statement said.
But The Globe and Mail reported that the British Columbia ministry responsible for the welfare of children has confirmed it is prepared to make the babies wards of the state, if necessary, to ensure their safety.
"In cases where treatment is deemed to be necessary to preserve a child's life, or prevent serious or permanent impairment to a child's health, it may be necessary to seek a court order - and that's what we would do," the official told the newspaper.
In cases where the government steps in to ensure children get treatment deemed medically necessary, guardianship typically exists only to enforce medical care. It would not include taking children from their parents.
In 2005, the B.C. Supreme Court ordered a Jehovah's Witness teenager to undergo blood transfusions as part of her treatment for bone cancer.
The court said that because the girl, then 14, could not refuse transfusions if doctors deemed them medically necessary because she was a minor.
She fled to Ontario where the provincial court of appeal set aside lower court rulings that gave B.C.'s child protection agency interim custody.
The girl, who was eventually treated at New York hospital that specializes in "blood avoidance" care, is now cancer-free.
