Jehovah Witnesses

The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics, values and beliefs of Jehovah’s Witness group. It will discuss their reasoning for refusal to accept blood transfusions. The paper will elaborate on the best approach to offer appropriate care, advice and education while treating patients with respect in regards to their religious beliefs. British Journal of Nursing (2009) suggests that good, honest communication, without any element of coercion or scare tactics, is the key in the management of Jehovah’s Witness patients.

Jehovah’s witnesses are able to received medical care, but they are not able to receive any blood transfusion because of their beliefs. The patients’ that are Jehovah witnesses are not allowed to accept any blood transfusion, not even if it’s their own blood that has being preserved. They are not allowed to consume anything that has blood by product, whether it’s medication or in food (Ehman, 2012). Some adults of this faith are known to carry a card that states treatment without blood. When it comes to organ donations and transplantation that is strictly up to the individual whether they choose to or not.

These individuals believe that blood transfusions are not safe and might cause great damage to a one’s health. The refusal of blood by Jehovah Witnesses has benefited the field of medicine because it has changed the way in which

As a heath care provider it is important to assess our patient’s faith. To a lot of people faith and spirituality play a large part in their overall health and healing. Health care providers cannot be expected to know about every kind of faith in the world but assessing and talking with patients regarding their personal beliefs will help with understanding more about patients and their view on their health. To better understand three of the world’s very popular religions this writer will discuss the spiritual perspective on healing, the critical components of healing, and what is important to people of a particular

One major medical belief that is strictly followed by individuals who practice the Jehovah Witness culture is the refusal of blood transfusions. The reason for this medical belief is that it is stated in both the new and old testament that he/she shall abstain from blood (“Why Don’t,” 2016). Jehovah’s witnesses not only will refuse a blood transfusion but they will in no way donate, ingest or store own blood no matter what the

During emergency moments, patients vary in their choice to receive blood transfusions. Fundamentalist Jehovah's Witnesses are not willing to receive blood products under any circumstances, even when it means losing their lives. Their position is so extreme that they are also not willing to receive a transfusion for their underage children, even those not born yet. However, Ecumenist suggests that secondary components of the blood, such as albumin, coagulation factors and immunoglobulins, should be accepted because they naturally cross the placental barrier during pregnancy, so they do not have the same connotation of the primary components and are no longer considered “blood”. Also, Ecumenist are flexible to those members who receive a transfusion against their will or those who have accepted the transfusion and regret of their actions (Besio). Because of ecumenist’s efforts, Jehovah’s Witnesses are allowed to carry a signed and witnessed “Advance Decision Document” listing the blood products and autologous procedures that are, or are not, acceptable to them. Usually, a copy of that document is placed in the patient records (JPAC). Moreover, ecumenist movements have made it possible for Jehovah’s Witness patients to undergo otherwise religiously questionable procedures such as apheresis, hemodialysis, cardiac bypass with non-blood fluids, as well as the use of recombinant products, like erythropoiesis stimulating agents and granulocyte colony stimulating

Children are unable to understand healthcare decisions and are not considered autonomous, thus medical responsibility depends on the parents. Generally, only the parents and not other family members can offer or deny consent for their child’s medical treatment. Since the patient’s condition is an emergency and requires immediate attention, the standard course of action would be to act with beneficence and treat the child using a blood transfusion; however, the parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses and undergoing a blood transfusion violates their religious beliefs. Although the parents do have religious freedom and parental rights to refuse treatment, the child’s health overrides parental rights, i.e. parental rights are not absolute and do not grant

|appeal to younger affluent people. |Perception of giving blood is often negative and has adverse effects. |

Blood transfusions can be a life-sustaining medical procedure; yet its significance has been neglected. Like many procedures, the risk of potentially harmful complications are vast, however in healthcare the consequence of a mistake is death. For instance, when an acute hemolytic reaction can occur when a patient receives incompatible blood. The symptoms of which include pain, chills, fever, tachycardia, hypotension, and even renal failure (Kessler, 2013). Human error has required hospitals to implement specific protocols which aim to prevent errors and reduce the likelihood of harmful complications. These protocols consist of many "rights", which ensure correct identity and blood product. Nurses are responsible for the final bedside check

“The need for an exact blood type match between those donating blood and the patients receiving the blood

All humans, no matter what religion, skin color, age, or gender, have blood streaming through out our bodies. Blood rushes oxygen around the body, pulls carbon dioxide out of the body, sends white blood cells to fight illness and infection, is produced in the bone marrow, carries platelets and fibers that close up wounds, and comes in the types A, B, AB, and O, with type O being a universal blood donor. Blood is not just imperative, it is irreplaceable. Doctors can only rely on the generosity of strangers to donate blood and plasma to blood banks to be stored away for future use. There is no known way to artificially produce blood; this is why it is so valuable. However, some people misuse their own blood in

Blood transfusion aims in appropriate use of blood and blood products in a safe manner to treat a condition leading to a significant morbidity and mortality which cannot be treated or managed by other treatment measures. However transfusion always carries a risk of triggering adverse reactions as well as transmission of blood borne infections1. Due to this the concept of patient blood management is gaining increasing attention worldwide and Hospital Transfusion Committees (HTC) has been created in different hospitals worldwide to monitor this. The major concern related to mortality by allogenic blood transfusion includes:

The AIDS epidemic in late 80 's was a huge disaster for blood transfusion where patients contracted AIDS. Furthermore, surveillance programs were developed to monitor infections transmitted by blood, primarily Hepatitis and HIV. Regardless of advances technology recently, blood transfusions are not risk free and are expensive - one unit can cost $522-1183. Then, they must not be ordered routinely. Transfusions are under approved practices, such as, red blood cell transfusions are ordered to treat anemia, red blood cells and cryoprecipitate transfusions are commonly given to trauma patients or critically ill. Today, the most number of transfusion infections is caused by hepatitis B causing liver infections. The risk of Hepatitis B and C as well as HIV requires rigorous screening especially in underdeveloped counties, for instance Nigeria.

Plasma, red blood cells, antigens, and antibodies are just some of the components of blood that have to be studied before matching a donor and recipient for a blood transfusion. Blood transfusion is a complex and long process that has a unique matching market of its own. In order to see if the blood is a safe match, technicians have to check for compatible blood types (the most preferable is type O), non-matching antigens, and finally cross-matching to see if the antibodies will attack the donor’s cells. All of this is done in a large market with blood from hundreds of thousands of donors. Due to the large number of options and room for the match to be ineffective or be rejected, there are numerous problems in this market. It is possible for there to be a mix up with the blood, or unknown factors could arise where the donor and recipient end up being a bad mix. There is an arduous, difficult process of making a match in this market, and this causes some problems that I will propose a few solutions for.

According to the study from the American Red Cross, “More than 1.68 million people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer in 2016. Many of them will need blood, sometimes daily, during their chemotherapy treatment.” Without blood transfusion, these patients would not have survived and they couldn’t continue their treatment because the drugs and radiation are harming their blood cells and they couldn’t generate new blood cells to replace damaged ones. An individual car accident victim need as many as 100 pints of blood, but this is actually a small amount, things like cancer and medical treatments requires much