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Case Report On The Emergency Room

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Case Report A 22-year Caucasian female Jehovah’s Witness, 28 week pregnant came to the emergency room in Australia, with a history of fever for 1 week, fatigue, extensive bruising, nose and gum bleeding. The patient was pregnant with her third child, and had 2 other children aged 2 and 4 years at home. The patient worked in the bank and was the primary breadwinner of the family as her husband was disabled after a motor vehicle accident and could not work. Laboratory tests revealed a white blood cell count of 76.2 × 103/mm3 (very high), hemoglobin 3.6 g/dl (very low) and platelets 6 × 103/µl (very low). A bone marrow biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of leukemia. The patient was accepting of all treatment options except for blood …show more content…

The patient and her family including the husband remained adamant that she would not accept blood products or a cesarean section even though it was the best option for the survival of both the fetus and herself. She stated that she would rather die than accept blood products. Her family contacted religious leaders who also came to the hospital to support the patient and her family’s decision of refusing blood products. The physicians and hospital administrative personnel in a desperate attempt, tried to get a court order to administer blood transfusions in order to save the fetus, but the Australian law provides the pregnant woman autonomy to make decisions for herself and her unborn fetus, and thus the hospital was unsuccessful. The patient was admitted to the hospital and the hemoglobin and blood counts were monitored daily and alternative therapies like intravenous Epoetin alpha and Iron was initiated. Regrettably these therapies take time to work, and much to the distress of physicians and other healthcare providers they watched helplessly as the blood counts continued to fall. Within one week the hemoglobin was 2.4 g/dl and the patient went into cardiac arrest and died along with the unborn fetus.
Why does a Jehovah’s Witness refuse to accept blood transfusions? Jehovah’s Witness as a religion originated near Pittsburg, PA in the 1872 and was founded by Charles T. Russell and is based on a literal millennialist interpretation of the Bible. The Watch

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