Jehovah's Witnesses - Comments on the refusal of hemotherapy

Abstract

The refusal of blood transfusion by the mem­bers of the recent and expanding faith known as Jehovah's Witnesses places the doctor in face of a dilemma: let the exsanguine patients die wi­thout the only effective treatment, or violate the individual freedom of decision, forcing the he­motherapy.

This paper remembers the origin of Jehovah's Witnesses, presents a short overview of their doctrine and analysis the reasons invoked by these people for not accepting blood or its natu­ral fractions. A clinical case of fatal refusal of blood transfusions is briefly reported and com­mented.

The solution of the increasing challenge put by these deeply religious patients for whom blood is a forbidden medicine has not a straight solu­tion. The author suggests the urgent need of com­mittees to the study of the problem in its moral, theological medical and legal aspects.