R v Blaue

Facts

Blaue stabbed a young woman and pierced her lung. She was told she would die without a blood transfusion. She refused, because she was a Jehovah's Witness, and she died of the bleeding. He was convicted of manslaughter.

Issue

Does an unreasonable refusal of treatment break the chain?

Held

No. Lawton LJ said those who use violence must take their victims as they find them, the whole person and not only the physical person. The cause of death was the stab.

Principle

The thin-skull rule covers a religious belief as well as a physical weakness.

Why it matters

It is the eggshell-skull case. Hayward is the physical version.

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