Who Are Jehovah 's Witness?

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.

Family, heritage, ethnicity, beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences, attitudes, religion, education, roles, language, and cuisine are all items encompassing culture. Culture is what influences your outlook on life itself as well as behaviors and rituals. Culture is the way different groups of people do things. While some cultures have overlapping cultural behaviors or aspects, most cultures vary significantly. Culture, for the most part, is something you are born into, your innate programming, however, it some aspects can be changed or evolved. "Only part of culture is conscious" (Spector, 2013).

If an organization has established care for a minor in an emergency situation and/or is needing a blood transfusion and the organization refuses to treat due to the parents or legal guardian being unavailable and consequently the minor dies or has irreversible disability the organization can be held criminally liable. The organization can be charged with negligence and/or medical malpractice if the plaintiff can prove the following elements: (1) a duty of care is owed to the patient; (2) a breach of this duty of care; (3) a causal connection between the breach of duty and the patient’s injury; and (4) damages (McWay, 2012).

Notably, Jehovah Witness patients’ religious teachings prohibit their believers from Blood transfusion, euthanasia, autopsy and Artificial insemination. These medical practices are against the Biblical teachings of the Jehovah Witness since they consider them to be unholy. Further, they believe the medical interventions to interfere with God’s intentions for human life hence they disallow their followers from practicing

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

According to dictionary.com (n.d.), Jehovah witnesses are a part of a Christian Sect. Henslin (2012) states that a sect is like a cult, but larger than the cult. Dictionary.com (n.d) states that Jehovah Witnesses were founded in the late nineteenth century,

“The generation of the righteous.” People were given blood test to determine whether or not

Although the defendant said that the victim could not refuse the transfusion and the chain of causation could be broken, as her act was unreasonable, the court held that Blaue was still responsible given that the victim was entitled to have certain religious beliefs.

The Mormon religion was founded in the nineteenth century by a man named Joseph Smith. In 1890, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints banned the practice of polygamous marriages. As with many religions, when a main practice is resolved it can cause some parishioners to be upset. Some Mormons were not fond of the idea of dissolving the practice and moved to separate parts of the country to continue the practice. The most well known polygamous branch was given the name the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This group settled near the Arizona-Utah border (Andersen, 741). The group is mainly based in Colorado City and Hildale, Colorado (Urban, 62). The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day

Thankfully after a long search he found a doctor willing to went to perform the bloodless procedure. Legal limits such as Hospitals refusing to treat Jehovah's Witnesses because of their beliefs were placed upon Seth. In my opinion the government or a hospital should not be able to decide to refuse treatment for people based on their beliefs. This religion in particular faces daily challenges each day such as struggling to be understood. If there is a way for more people to listen and not just blow them off because of the stereotypes I think this religion would be more successful in today's

During the actual incident, the congregants assisted this fallen man quite well and performed satisfactory first aid until the paramedics arrived. One congregant who was first aid and CPR certified took charge of the situation and helped them fallen man back on his seat, but this congregant did not recognize that the problem did not pertain to the heart, but more to do with the lungs. Therefore, when this congregant helped the fallen man up to his seat it actually caused more chest spasms and the congregant had to help the man down to the floor until the paramedics came. The paramedics knew what they were doing, so they gave the man oxygen immediately and then carried him out on the gurney. Pastor followed the paramedics to the hospital and visited this man a few times.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are a people known widely throughout the world. They are well-dressed people who come knocking at your door on different occasions offering religious literature for sale or trying to introduce their beliefs through carefully prepared conversation. People young, old, rich, poor, well educated and non-educated have embraced them. Their enthusiasm as proclaimers of God’s Kingdom has impressed even their harshest critics. Their love toward one another makes some non-witnesses hope and pray that more people would act in that manner. Yet, some may still wonder, who really are the Jehovah’s Witnesses? What is their history, their practices and their beliefs? Why are they the most attacked new religious

"You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood" (Lev. 17:14). This is just one of the several scriptures found in the bible from which the Jehovah Witnesses base their beliefs. To summarize the above excerpt, Jehovah Witnesses strongly believe that contributing to the health of their bodies by way of any type of blood material is not intended by God’s will. However in dire cases, ethical questions need to be raised regarding the patient’s mental capacity and legal competence. In particular cases concerning minor patients, where mental capacity is accounted for, parents should not have the dominant opinion about how their child wants to receive surgery based on their own personal beliefs.