Caring for Jehovah's witnesses

For anyone who is interested, www.noblood.org is an excellent resource for information on these issues.

This thread is a little old but I just came across it perusing this forum. I was curious about who all ORDERS blood other than physicians. Specifically - do advanced practice nurses such as CRNA order blood products?

Congratulations on pursuing that BSN! I am a 53 y/o JW who just completed that process. I passed NCLEX (whew!) and start a new job on L & D floor at local hospital here in Colorado Springs. Your concerns were indeed answered very well by the other posters here, but I would add that a GREAT place to get information regarding not only Jehovah's Witnesses and their treatment, but information on non-blood management of many different diseases and medical conditions, is www.NoBlood.org. Thousands of medical professionals and lay people use the site from around the world, and all are welcome to discuss relevant topics specific to these subjects. So if you choose to do research involving non-blood management of some patient you encounter, check out that site.

In previous posts, members of this forum who are Jehovah's Witnesses generically recommended to questioners that "state laws should be consulted regarding children of JWs who need blood transfusions."

The following website contains summaries of over 200 such court cases dealing with blood transfusions and children of Jehovah's Witnesses. The summarized court cases are broken down by category: Minors, Mature Minors, Unborn Fetuses, Responsible Parents, Misc.

WHY TAKE SOMEONE'S BIASED OPINION AS YOUR ANSWER, WHEN YOU CAN READ THE ACTUAL COURT DECISIONS?

HTTP://JWDIVORCES.BRAVEHOST.COM

The name of the website is:

DIVORCE, BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS, AND OTHER LEGAL ISSUES AFFECTING CHILDREN OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

The section which contains summarized divorce cases can also shed light into how JW Parents interact with their children, which knowledge can sometimes be of use to health care providers.

Again, the best course of action is to deal with individuals as just that. Individuals. If you have a patient that is a JW and have questions about treatments, then talk to them. No one on this board can give anything more than a "generic" answer because the patient is the one who knows what they are and are not comfortable with. Just like with any thing else, ask and assess.

Sorry, SMK1, but children whose Jehovah's Witness Parents are refusing to consent to a medically necessary blood transfusion are NOT all treated as adults whose individual whims are catered to.

Different states have ruled differently depending whether the child is a "fetus", a minor, a mature minor, etc., plus there may be impacting circumstances.

Thus, by reading and studying some of the actual court decisions will at least give a student a "feel" for a given scenario.

Well, that website certainly doesn't have an axe to grind.

This may be true but it isn't the nurse's responsibility to bring up court decisions to make a medical decision. Talk to the parents and find out what treatments they do agree with as in many cases there are productc that will work for the situation that the patient or guardian will agree with. (volume expanders, blood fractions etc...) That IS a nursing duty. In any case the nurse is never the one making the decision to tranfuse so looking up court cases really isn't a relevant focus for teaching a student. A more valuable approach would be teaching the student how to develop a therapeutic relationship with the family and how to maintain that relationship to some degree if the doctor transfuses the child because the transfusion doesn't end the discussion it is going to open up a whole host of issues for this family, child and the staff treating the child. So don't feel sorry for me, I think I have a pretty good handle on things.

The only problem with me is when a pt with a Hgb of 6 refuses blood because of being a JW and they are on Medicaid so they spend 3 weeks in the hospital when if they accepted blood they would be out in 3 days. As taxpayers, should we have to pay extra because of someone's religion? I mean, lawmakers make us wear seat belts or motorcycle helmets because the lack can impact health care costs. I know religion is touchy, but I shouldn't have to subsidize their choice, should I?

Wow I am amazed at how long this has gone on.... and at what an interesting turn it just took (stacieRN).

I am just starting nursing school after 13 years in the healthcare field, and am new to this forum. I find this to be a really interesting topic and am so glad that I have gotten to read all of your wonderful and informitive posts.
Thank you all for sharing!