Jehovah's Witness Religious Beliefs

Religious belief is a very sensitive issue and often times conflicts with the medical treatment. Which in turn puts the patient’s life into a threatening situation. Nabil, you have brought up a very important issue of blood transfusion, which is forbidden in Jehovah’s Witness belief system. “The Jehovah’s Witness religion was founded in the United States in the 1870s, with approximately 6 million members worldwide. Their faith is based upon passages from the Bible that are interpreted as prohibiting the consumption of blood (whole blood, packed red cells, plasma and autologous blood). They believe that blood that has been removed from the body is ‘unclean’ and should be disposed of. The use of procedures that involve the removal and storage of their own blood are often

In case of elective surgery, the patients are being informed about risk and benefit of the blood transfusion as well as the consequences of the refusal of the transfusion. Usually, Jehovah’s Witness patients have to sign a consent form which excludes the blood transfusion. In case of emergency, the doctors try to save the life. When they learn about the patient is a member of the Jehovah’s Witness, then it becomes a very challenging situation for them. They have to balance between the respect for the patient’s belief and their own commitment to promote and protect a patient’s life. “Many health care professionals have strong moral difficulty in respecting the Jehovah’s Witness position. The conflict lies in two area: values and world view.” (Galanti, G. 2015, p.