A Belfast High Court judge is to rule on whether doctors may give a blood transfusion to a 15-year-old girl, a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
The schoolgirl suffers from kidney failure and could die if she does not have a transplant operation. But the sect does not allow its members to receive a blood transfusion, which might be needed during or after an operation. The hospital's administrators have asked a judge to intervene.
After a private hearing Mr Justice Higgins reserved his decision until later this week.
It is understood the girl and her father, also a Jehovah's Witness, have agreed to the transplant but without a blood transfusion. The girl's mother, who is not a Jehovah's Witness, is separated and is believed to have agreed to the operation going ahead regardless.
