Religion vs. Medical Care

Mary Ann is a 19-year-old college student, who has sought counseling for her depression. She has been extremely exhausted and feels she is doing poorly in her academics. Marcus, her counselor tries to guide her in a counseling session. Mary Ann explains her depression and where she believes it stems from. When Mary Ann was a teenager she was raped, which led her to have an abortion. Mary Ann feels ashamed and believes she will go to Hell. Mary Ann holds religion highly and is in conflict because she believes she’s a murderer. Marcus tells Mary Ann to explore her spirituality by looking into other religions that will accept her for her mistakes. Marcus believes her religion is the root of her problems, in return he tries to persuade

In taking care of a patient, it is important for nurses to respect the patient, their beliefs, and their right to autonomy. Provision One in the Code of Ethics states “the nurse practices with compassion and respect for inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person” (ANA, 2015, p. 7). With a Jehovah’s Witness patient, the nurse must first acquire information regarding their religion and how it may impact their care and their wishes related to their healthcare. Once their patient’s beliefs are noted and understood, the nurse must establish a professional and therapeutic relationship with their patient without bias to their religion and the associated beliefs. The duty to act without bias can be found outlined in Provision 1.2 (ANA, 2015).

If a Jehovah witness comes into the hospital in need of a blood transfusion the doctors and nurses must respect the patient’s wishes not to have a blood transfusion.

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’ faith allows them to seek medical help; however, they do not accept blood transfusions. This belief arises from a biblical passage that states "Only flesh with its soul- its blood-you must not eat (Genesis 9:3-4), "You must not eat the blood of any sort of flesh, because the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood. I will set my face against that person who eats blood...Anyone eating it will be cut off” (Leviticus 17:10, 13-14). These passages are interpreted by Jehovah's witnesses as forbidding the transfusion of any blood products. The following presentation will address legal and ethical issues that can arise from this scenario.

Allowing someone to die: Some religious affiliations (Jehovah’s witness) will not receive a blood transfusion. They have decided not to take advantage of medical technology to preserve life. If such person is in a life & death situation and required a blood transfusion in order to survive the choose to die vs. receiving a blood transfusion.

According to Culture Vision (n.d.) Jewish dogma teaches that “It is everyone 's duty to maintain and preserve his or her own good health (both physical and mental)”. This does not mean that even Orthodox Jews avoid medical assistance. It merely means that their approach may be limited by Jewish beliefs. For example, Elyssa states, “more religious Jews may want to consult a rabbi with certain medical decisions, especially if more ethically questionable. Also, even Jewish people who strictly observe the Sabbath are able to break it for life saving measures. However, the needed medical treatment is not lifesaving they may well refuse to participate in it on the Jewish Sabbath. For example, a patient in the hospital might prefer to delay a test or even a procedure if it is not literally emergent and likely necessary to preserve life and health permanently” (E. Jankelovitz, person communication, January 20, 2017).

Many are times nurses that the efforts of nurses’ medical interventions have been rejected by the patient owing to their religious beliefs. As such this paper details out the dilemma, the nurses faces while taking care of Jehovah Witness patients and the actions they take to treat the patient without violating their rights.

For many people Christianity is the religion of choice and a way of life. Jehovah?s Witnesses are one subgroup of the Christian faith. The JW religion was founded in 1872 by Charles Taze Russell. They comprise 1.2 million of the U.S. population (Campbell, Y., Machan M., & Fisher, M., 2016). They present a unique challenge to the medical community because of their stance on blood transfusions. Part I will provide a

As heath care providers we need to keep mindful of the care we provide to several different religious traditions. It is up to the health care professional to respect and understand the ideals that affect our patients and their family members. In this paper we will compare the philosophies of three diverse faiths. The faiths chosen are Islam, Christian Science and Buddhism, and how they compare to Christianity. We will learn about basic beliefs, spiritual perspectives on healing, and the components of healing such as meditation, prayer and other rituals they follow. Furthermore,

She said “I walked through my wards and found them comparatively empty. Everyman who could crawl had tried to escape a Northern prison. Beds in which paralyzed, rheumatic, and helpless patients had laid for months were empty. The miracles of the New Testament had been re-enacted, the lame, the halt, and the blind had been cured.”

During the last week I have had the pleasure of interviewing several individuals about their beliefs and how those beliefs affect how they would anticipate their own needs in a healthcare setting. I found that I also learned a lot about each individual’s faith, how their faiths affected their daily lives and their worldviews. I conducted four interviews in the last week and I believe that I have captured a diverse cross section of view on faith and reality from these individuals.

Across the world at similar levels of educational and income skills, there is a broad variation in health care results. Some of this variation is due to the changes in health system performance. Decision-makers or administrators at all levels in healthcare needs to measure the variation in health system performance, identify issues that influence and articulate policies that will accomplish better results in various settings in healthcare. Once these issues are identified, it can frame innovation for health care. Innovations has brought the art of medicine to a new level of constantly improving healthcare. The biblical worldview does frame innovation for the Christian health administrator. Porter-O'Grady & Malloch (2015) discusses the driving

saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb . . .’

According to the first principle, nonmaleficience, it would not be appropriate as a professional to practice medicine based on his or her own beliefs and not consider the patients feelings about the operation. In this particular case, regarding religious constrictions the doctor must decide if the patients’ needs outweigh the ethical belief of nonmaleficience. Asserting empathy in this case could prove to be a problem. How does a person wholly understand the beliefs of another when they have not been exposed to those beliefs and culture that supplied this person with their values of living? Understanding a patient’s background can significantly impact a decision. If a doctor were to treat a Jehovah Witness with blood they need to understand the impact they would be having on their patient’s life.