A Jehovah’s Witness member faces a year in prison over her refusal to allow her son to receive a blood transfusion that might have prevented his death in August, Interfax reported Thursday.
Ilya Orlukovich, 11, was hospitalized in Moscow on Aug. 9 after being hit by a car, and he died two weeks later, a spokesman for the city branch of the Investigative Committee told Interfax.
He said the boy’s mother forbade doctors from offering a blood transfusion because of a Jehovah’s Witness teaching that prohibits such operations.
Now the woman, who was unidentified, has been charged with failing to assist a person in danger, the spokesman said.
