Case Study Of Jehovah's Witnesses

2693 Words6 Pages

ASSIGNMENT AHB1103 BASIC HAEMATOLOGY SEM II, 13/14
NAME: AMIRAH FARVEEN BINTI BASHEER AHAMAD
MATRIC NO: 1312766

TITLE: SHOULD JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES BE ALLOWED TO REFUSE BLOOD
TRANSFUSION?
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) are members of a Christian - based religious movement. It was founded in 1879 by a Pennsylvania businessman, Charles Taze Russel. The followers of this movement believe in monotheism, the existence of one God, Jehovah. They strongly oppose the concept of trinity. They believe that Jesus is created by the God, Jehovah. Thus, they strongly believe in the teachings of bible. They produce their own bible, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures according to the doctrine of their organization- Watchtower society. They are well known for rejecting blood transfusion in medical treatments. It is their deep seeded belief that the passages in bible clearly asked the followers to abstain from blood .
‘The life of all flesh is the blood thereof:whoever eat it shall be cut off’ (Lev. 17:10-16) and ‘abstain from the meats offered to idols and from blood’ (Acts 15:28-29) (1)
Thus, they require clinicians to provide alternatives such as bloodless surgery and using blood conservation techniques in surgery. Doctors and surgeon face challenges as it is very risk and requires high specialization and experience. Moreover, the stand of Jehovah Witnesses puts clinicians in difficult situation as they are mostly forced to choose between their duty to preserve life and respect the patients’ right. This blood transfusion refusal of JW rise a lot of ethical and legal debates regarding the rights of patients to refuse treatment especially in situations that could result in death. Rights of parents to refuse b...

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