Caring for Jehovah's witnesses

Nurses Safety

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I am pursuing my BSN. As part of my current class I am researching the difficulties of caring for patients with the Jehovah's witness' beliefs. If anyone has an experience that he/she can share with me about your personal feelings in caring for a Jehovah's witness, I would greatly appreciate it. I am new to the discussion board and look forward to hearing from you.

After reading this thread, doing a little bit of research and then observing two CABG surgeries using the bypass machine, I wondered about JWs and consent. Do you think JW patients (or, for those of you who are JW, would you) consent to a procedure that involved a bypass machine?

I am aware that some believe that an autologous transfusion is acceptable, whereas others believe that as soon as the blood leaves the body, it is impure.

I was quite curious about this and I figured this would be the best place to get some good answers.

Thanks!

To a JW, the bypass machine would be a conscience matter, meaning there is no law in the bible that directly prohibits it. So each Jehovah's Witness must make a personal decision as to whether or not the bypass machine would be acceptable.

i would like to point out too there are many medical choices patients make that could extend their stay or make use of alternitive therapies. guess what drs are not always right, its up to the patient for whatever reason to be their own advocate and if they are not comfortable with a procedure or choice a dr makes they have the right to try others. in the instances of jehovahs witnesses you might want to sit back and think of how their choices have changed the shape of medicine, new technologies are comming out all the time and most are prompted my jw's however will benifit the whole community, bloodless medicine is becomming more and more popular whole hospitals are becomming dedicated to this, it is by far a safer way to go and coming up with non blood products was infact spear headed if not directly but indirectly by jehovah's witnesses. in my opinion that is tax dollars well spent.

how cheezy is this i am quoting myself hehehe.

ok i just wanted to post on this particular topic an interesting documantary on pbs may22 07. knocking. here is the link to the site.

its about jw's and how many things have changed things in regards to bloodless surgery, freedom of speach etc.

i have a copy of the video and was just watching and found it interesting to anyone in the nursing proffesion who has run into these things.

knocking documentary project

Specializes in SNF, Psych, Sub Acute, Long Term Rehab.
After reading this thread, doing a little bit of research and then observing two CABG surgeries using the bypass machine, I wondered about JWs and consent. Do you think JW patients (or, for those of you who are JW, would you) consent to a procedure that involved a bypass machine?

I am aware that some believe that an autologous transfusion is acceptable, whereas others believe that as soon as the blood leaves the body, it is impure.

I was quite curious about this and I figured this would be the best place to get some good answers.

Thanks!

I am a JW. I would consider a CABG because the blood is in continuous "connection" to the body just being run through the machine in an effort to prevent "spillage". Storing one's own blood for later use is no different from any other transfusion from a religious standpoint. Blood fractions used in globulins are a conscience matter. Personally, I have no problem with them. I advise all my patients that they need to take control of their medical care, do research, and be able to make an educated decision on their own behalf.

When a patient does state that he/she does not want a transfusion, the surgeons are more apt to be more careful during surgery. There are so many alternative now that are safer anyways.

On the flip side. I have no problem monitoring a transfusion or hanging blood on a patient who requested it (not yet in my scope of practice) because I feel that to push one's religious beliefs on another of a different faith is not right. It is their choice just as I would appreciate it if my choices were respected.

Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

interesting thread ! I'm just curious, what do JW's feel about surfactant for preemies? We use Curosurf, which is porcine derived, do JW's agree with this, is it just blood products that are the issue?

Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.
http://www.watchtowerinformationservice.org/
interesting thread ! I'm just curious, what do JW's feel about surfactant for preemies? We use Curosurf, which is porcine derived, do JW's agree with this, is it just blood products that are the issue?

I am not sure what form surfactant is, I am only a pre nursing student so forgive my ignorance I know what it does in the lungs but not sure the product form givin to infants. That said if it does not contain blood or blood products there is no issue for the JW's.

the only approved JW website is

WWW.Watchtower.org All others are quite often missinformation.

I too am an RN, who is also one of Jehovah's Witnessess. I have tried to read the thread so I would not repeat anything.

I have had the privilidge of doing a lecture on transfusion free medicine. I consulted the Watchtower's Hospital Liason Committee as previously mentioned.

To help those RNs trying to decide if a specific procedure (such as the surfactant) is acceptable, I will review the principle from my lecture. The Bible states once blood is removed from the body it is to be poured on the groundg, therefore accepting a transfusion from a bag of blood which has been stored is against the writing of the Bible and not accepted by Jehovah's Witnesses. One post mentioned a witness doing a pre-surgery blood bank donation, this is not within the Bible principle.

The other matters such as, hemodialysis and bypass is (as already mentioned) are "matters of conscious" for each witness. No specific Bible text refers to this issue so one must make a personal decision about such things as a continuous circut, hemodilution or blood fractions ie. Epogen (as proteins pass from mother to fetus).

Some facts I discovered preparing for my lecture may surprise some of you.

The anethesia "standard" of needing a Hgb 10.0 for surgery has no documentation or research behind it. I have known several patients with Hgb

Post-op infection rates increase 25% for patients receiving blood transfusions.

At least for prostate and breast cancers, relapse rates increase as much as 80% for patients who receive blood transfusions as part of their treatment in comparison for those who do not get blood (we all realize their are MANY other factors in this mix.)

I hope you all will realize that we are all people, just as you would not serve a pork roast to a devout Jewish person, please educate your Witness patient so they don't end up in the same position.

Thanks to all those nurses out their who take the time to be true patient advocates.

Michelle

Jehovah's witnesses love life just as you and any other human will,,, but as stated clearly in God's word, the bible, we do not need blood,, taken into our system. It is very wrong in Jehovah's sight and we do not accept it. There are alternatives that are used, such as plasma expanders......an these are non blood medications that can help someone who is short of blood. Here, what i am trying to say is, we accept any form of treatment, as long as it does not go contrary to what the bible tells us. Blood use is bad, and it's not medically acceptable to transfuse another persons blood into your body. Even most of the doctors that give people transfusions do not take in blood when they are sick or in an emergency, so why do they give others blood? i am in Akowonjo, Lagos, Nigeria and i am looking for any Jehovah's Witnesses on this site.

Have a nice day.

I care for a woman on a regular basis that is Jehovah's witness. She always comes in with a low H & H. She suffers from chronic anemia and she always refuses a transfusion. We know that she is Jehovah's witness and know that she will refuse the blood, but we always have to ask. It is frustrating at times because she gets dangerously low and she is always saying how bad she feels and you wonder, "Why not just take the blood and feel better?" But I respect her decision and her strong faith and sometimes we just have to put aside our own beliefs and do the best we can for our patients even though we may not agree or we might do things differently.

hi this is my first day and first time i post comments on this web page .Iam seriously considering to become a Jehova Witness soon. I got this new job in a local hospital in central florida and the article you wrote called all my attention Iam a registered nurse too .My question is how did you manage to be a nurse a JW and being able to let the hospital know that you are not able in your practice to give blood transfusions cause is contrary to the scriptures.Thanks .Will be helpful for me to make an informed decision and follow biblical advises.

I too am an RN, who is also one of Jehovah's Witnessess. I have tried to read the thread so I would not repeat anything.

I have had the privilidge of doing a lecture on transfusion free medicine. I consulted the Watchtower's Hospital Liason Committee as previously mentioned.

To help those RNs trying to decide if a specific procedure (such as the surfactant) is acceptable, I will review the principle from my lecture. The Bible states once blood is removed from the body it is to be poured on the groundg, therefore accepting a transfusion from a bag of blood which has been stored is against the writing of the Bible and not accepted by Jehovah's Witnesses. One post mentioned a witness doing a pre-surgery blood bank donation, this is not within the Bible principle.

The other matters such as, hemodialysis and bypass is (as already mentioned) are "matters of conscious" for each witness. No specific Bible text refers to this issue so one must make a personal decision about such things as a continuous circut, hemodilution or blood fractions ie. Epogen (as proteins pass from mother to fetus).

Some facts I discovered preparing for my lecture may surprise some of you.

The anethesia "standard" of needing a Hgb 10.0 for surgery has no documentation or research behind it. I have known several patients with Hgb

Post-op infection rates increase 25% for patients receiving blood transfusions.

At least for prostate and breast cancers, relapse rates increase as much as 80% for patients who receive blood transfusions as part of their treatment in comparison for those who do not get blood (we all realize their are MANY other factors in this mix.)

I hope you all will realize that we are all people, just as you would not serve a pork roast to a devout Jewish person, please educate your Witness patient so they don't end up in the same position.

Thanks to all those nurses out their who take the time to be true patient advocates.

Michelle

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