Caring for Jehovah's witnesses

hpygrl01 · Mar 12, 2009

I am also one of Jehovah's Witnessess and I am a nursing student. It's wonderful to see the question posted and all the response from each and every one of you. :yeah:

caincreations · May 27, 2009

I am a JW and a nursing student. I also personally faced the issue of blood in my high risk twin pregnancy and delivery. There are blood-less medicine hospitals (such as Englewood in NJ), but not in every area of the country. They are not run by JW's, but many JW's do work there. There are many people other than JW's choose bloodless medical treatment as well. All of this comes down to education on both sides, the patients and the practitioners. JW's do not take PRC, Plasma or Platelets, however the fractions are up to the patient's individual conscience. JW's are regularly informed about how to properly identify themselves and to work with their doctors in advance. This is to allow the physicians and hospital to be able to agree to the requested treatments or not. There is a liason committee to work with the local physicians and hospitals. Unfortunately as RN's you are left with the decisions of the physician and hospitals. It is sometimes difficult to go with a patient's wishes if you are trained in a different way and JW's are aware of that too. THey want to live and will accept other medical treatment, procedures and medications. Many methods have been improved to provide bloodless medicine treatments successfully. They are aware of the risks of their decisions and do appreciate your diligent efforts in their behalf while respecting their wishes.

calmcool1 · Mar 6, 2010

We should respect every patients rights no matter if it's life or death situation, religion, culture or whatever. It's our duty as advocates to uphold thier rights.

HollyHobby · Mar 9, 2010

I completely respect my adult patients' right to refuse any treatment for any reason. I have had JW patients who have died (they bled out due to trauma), and one who was severely brain damaged due to the lack of oxygen carrying capacity of her blood. (No red blood cells= no oxygen) I have no qualms about this. I think these were unfortunate outcomes and I do not agree with the JW position on the matter, but I would literally lay across the bed if necessary to prevent a patient from receiving a blood transfusion against his/her will. Patients have the absolute right to refuse blood, or anything else. I would fight tooth and nail to prevent a JW from receiving blood.

(I've always been fascinated by the Jehovah's Witnesses and have studied their literature. I think it's interesting that they used to be forbidden to receive organ transplants, but this is now allowed. Also they used to be forbidden from receiving ANY blood fractions at all, but now some of these are a matter of conscience. The rules change as time goes by.)

Where children are concerned, the matter is much more complicated because children are not capable of making informed decisions regarding religion or medical treatment. I am not a peds nurse, though, so I haven't had to deal with this.

I did have a patient situation that was very troubling to me, though. I'd appreciate anyone else's thoughts on the matter. I had a patient who was in her mid-20's, but she was severely retarded. She was legally adult age, but her mental capacity was that of a one-year-old baby. She could not talk; her greatest achievement was being able to stack two toy blocks. (Oh, she was so cute!) Her parents were both JW's. Now, this girl had a severe GI bleed. Her hemoglobin was 4.

Her parents of course refused blood. No one questioned this. If this patient had been an actual 1 year old baby, probably the courts would have been involved to force the issue of transfusion. However, nobody made a peep, including me.

The issue seemed to be that this woman's life was less valuable because she was so severely disabled. But I watched that little girl (she seemed like a little girl) stacking her blocks and grinning, and I saw how much her parents loved her, and I knew that her quality of life was good. She was happy and well cared-for. Even if she would never be able to do anything more than stack two blocks, her quality of life was better than many "normal" people I've seen.

The ethical dilemma is this: since the woman was so mentally incapacitated, she could not comprehend her parents' religion. She could not choose to accept or reject that religion. She could not choose to accept or reject a transfusion.

I think her best interests were overlooked simply because she was retarded. I have a son who is disabled (physically but not mentally) so I'm particularly sensitive to the rights and needs of disabled people.

In this case, the doctors didn't seem to even think twice about going along with the parents' wishes. It was as if everyone assumed, "oh, she's horribly retarded and if she dies, the worst thing that can happen is her parents won't have to sacrifice anymore. Her life is useless."

But what about the patient? Just because a person is disabled (in my opinion) it doesn't mean they are worth any less than any other person. Isn't my job to do what's best for my patient? Or does the parents' religion trump all?

The patient did die. I'm saddened that such a beautiful life was allowed to slip away. And I feel responsible for it.

I'm really troubled by this.

delvenia · Nov 15, 2010

As a Jehovah's Witness as well as a RN, I am sure I could be of help to you in
your research.
First of all, you may not be aware that JW's have the conscience choice to take blood fractions. They also may consent to hemodilution. I have many different articles published by the Soceity of Jehovah's Witnesses on why Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood and what they will and won't accept.
The Society has also an information website that you can obtain information on our stand and medical videos that explain alternatives to blood transfusions, interviews from non-Jehovah's Witness medical professionals and examples of their cases who have accepted medical alternatives.
www.watchtower.org
You can get in contact with the Society through the number they have provided for medical professionals on their website which is:
Hospital Information Services at 718-560-4300.
They will supply you with any information over the phone or by mail that you may need.
example: Videos, brochures, etc..
It is not my intention to push our belief system on you, but only to provide an accurate understanding of Jehovah's Witnesses non-blood stand.
I hope this provides you with everything you need.
If you would like to discuss this issue with me further or get my feedback I will check the message board.

Very nice post sister!!! :yeah:

MrWarmHearted · Nov 17, 2010

Actually jehovah's witnesses should be your model patient in terms of their demeanor despite any physical afflictions. They don't accept whole blood products but they may accept various blood fractions (i.e. albumin, hemoglobin, interferons, etc). Plus blood volume expanders. In addition to their beliefs being based on the Bible, it is also better scientifically/healthwise to NOT accept blood transfusions.

why would anyone put themselves at risk with a blood transfusion?