A woman who received a blood transfusion against her Jehovah Witness religious beliefs at the Coombe Women's Hospital has told the High Court she believed an alternative remedy of Coca-Cola and tomatoes should have been given to her when she refused the transfusion.
The Congolese woman, known as Ms K, said that, in her country, when people were faced with the type of blood loss she had experienced, a remedy of cola and tomatoes was used.
She said her parents had used these products for other people because they contain iron and while they would not be as effective as a blood transfusion they "could have helped me little by little".
Ms K was being cross-examined on the 31st day of the action by the Coombe hospital in Dublin for a High Court order that it was entitled to apply in September 2006 for an injunction allowing it to transfuse her against her wishes after she had just given birth.
She had lost a great deal of blood and was in a life or death situation, the hospital has claimed.
Under cross-examination yesterday by Gerard Hogan SC, for the hospital, Ms K said she had asked medical staff for "coke and tomatoes" as an alternative to getting a transfusion. She was quite lucid in asking this, she said, and she denied Mr Hogan's suggestion that her request showed she did not understand the gravity of the situation she was in.
"I knew quite well how serious the situation was and I knew I had to choose between life and death and that I needed to respect the laws of God," she said.
Ms K, speaking through a French interpreter, said she had taken a personal decision, in accordance with the Bible, to abstain from blood products.
Ms K admitted she had falsely stated to the Coombe that she was a Roman Catholic and had done so previously during a visit to another hospital in the country.
She denied Mr Hogan's suggestion she had placed the hospital and staff in "an impossible situation" by telling lies about her personal circumstances.
She said she will be suing the hospital for damages because, while she agreed they had saved her, they had failed in their duty to care for her "whole body".
"They saved the body, but they did not save my mind that I lost. You do not understand what they [the hospital] have done to me," she said.