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Jehovah's Witnesses won't take blood products, so he is taking his own risk. I don't think they will even take synthetic due to the belief they are messing with God's will. The only thing I can think of off hand is Epogen. But I don't know how much it will help if they are actively bleeding
Wow, I had the same situation happen to me one night. I had a patient whose hemoglobin was something like, 6.5. Doc gave an order for type and cross and give 2 units of blood. So I went to inform the lady that she would be receiving blood. She said "I can't take any blood, I'm a Jehovah's Witness." . So, went and called the doc "Um, she's refusing to take the blood"
"Why?"
"She's a Jehovah's Witness"
"You're KIDDING!"
So anyway, he came to the floor and spoke to her, I guess he tried to convince her to take the blood and informed her of the possible consequences if she did not; of course she still refused. We ended up transferring her to a local teaching hospital, where a synthetic blood product was actually being experimented with.
I did a search on bloodless medicine. This site came-up first. It seems like they have a lot of info and they may be willing to consult with your docs.
i don't think they will even take synthetic due to the belief they are messing with god's will.
the belief against blood transfusions isn't about the will of god. it's about cleanliness, ultimately. in the old testament, it was forbidden to have meat with blood in it (like rare steaks, that kind of thing), and jws believe that having the blood put in iv is the same as po. this law was concerning cleanliness, as all the dietary laws of the time were (and for those who do keep kosher, still are).
- jess
Wow, I had the same situation happen to me one night. I had a patient whose hemoglobin was something like, 6.5. Doc gave an order for type and cross and give 2 units of blood. So I went to inform the lady that she would be receiving blood. She said "I can't take any blood, I'm a Jehovah's Witness." . So, went and called the doc "Um, she's refusing to take the blood""Why?"
"She's a Jehovah's Witness"
"You're KIDDING!"
So anyway, he came to the floor and spoke to her, I guess he tried to convince her to take the blood and informed her of the possible consequences if she did not; of course she still refused. We ended up transferring her to a local teaching hospital, where a synthetic blood product was actually being experimented with.
Isnt the doctor supposed to get a blood consent signed by the pt before they order prbcs?
blondy2061h, MSN, RN
1 Article; 4,094 Posts
We have a patient right now who's a Jehovah's Witness with a hgb of 6.0. He obviously won't receive a blood transfusion.
Has anyone ever seen hgb successfully raised, without blood, from a level that low?
He's also still actively bleeding.