Life for Ruth

A young girl, Ruth (Lynn Taylor), is injured in a boating accident and taken to hospital for what is regarded as a routine emergency. Her parents are informed that only a blood transfusion will save her life, but her religious fundamentalist father, John Harris (Michael Craig), ignores the doctors advice and forbids the procedure, believing that God will inexplicably heal his daughter. His embittered wife, Pat (Janet Munro), who has tolerated her husband’s religious convictions throughout their marriage finally relents and signs the required papers, but sadly too late and their daughter dies. The angry Dr. Brown Brown, (Patrick McGoohan), decides to press ahead with manslaughter charges against Harris and the case quickly comes to the law courts. After a lengthy and emotional trial, Harris is eventually acquitted. Though a free man, he must come to terms with his own conflicting feelings over his faith and his daughter’s death.