Abstract
It may happen that a patient refuses some treatment or intervention, referring to their cultural, ethnic, or religious prohibitions. For example, the Christian denomination Jehovah’s Witnesses does not allow its followers to accept blood transfusions, making leukemia treatment and surgical interventions quite challenging. Chaer and Ballen (2020), Garoufalia et al. (2022), and Sagy et al. (2017) address some issues related to this topic in their articles.
Introduction
Different cultures, ethnic groups, and religions can have their own opinions regarding medical interventions. People’s views on surgeries, vaccinations, antibiotics, homeopathy, or even chemotherapy can vary based on their race, faith, and cultural prejudices. Thus, a concern that is widely explored by medical researchers is that Jehovah’s Witnesses’ followers cannot accept blood transfusions, making it extremely challenging for medical workers to provide the necessary care (Chaer & Ballen, 2020). An overview of this Christian denomination’s background and rules can be quite informative before exploring medical evidence-based research on this topic.
The Christian Denomination Jehovah’s Witnesses Health Beliefs
This Bible Student movement’s branch was founded in the U.S. in 1872. Charles Taze Russell started Jehovah’s Witnesses, and initially, it was merely a group of students from Pittsburgh reading the Bible. Currently, according to Chaer and Ballen (2020), there are approximately 8.5 million Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide and more than a million of the sect’s followers in North America (p. 696). Generally, the religious movement is based on explorations of the New and the Old Testaments and the holy scriptures. Even though the sect’s followers accept the Bible and its teachings, they find it wrong to understand all of its parts literally (Sagy et al., 2017). One may wonder why Jehovah’s Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions, and this is explained further.
Overall, these people believe that the Bible prohibits this practice. As noticed by Chaer and Ballen (2020), Jehovah’s Witnesses belief is that “taking blood into one’s body from any other creature, human or animal, violates the divine law” (p. 696). Consequently, they cannot accept or donate blood, including its key components like plasma, red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells, even in medical purposes (Garoufalia et al., 2022). Currently, this religious rule is not entirely accepted and understood by healthcare providers and legal authorities. For instance, English and European laws can allow medical workers not to follow this life-threatening decision made by a child who belongs to this sect (Ó Néill, 2017). At the same time, there are new unique ways for healthcare providers to both respect this religious rule and provide proper treatment.
Assumptions, Goals, and Methods
In their articles, the authors discuss how healthcare practitioners can adapt to Jehovah’s Witnesses refusal of blood transfusions. Chaer and Ballen (2020) state that “the refusal of blood products should not be an absolute contraindication to offer multiple treatment modalities” during leukemia treatments (p. 696). Thus, after studying small institution case series and case reports, they recommend hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as an alternative. Further, Garoufalia et al. (2022) conducted a retrospective study to study JW patients undergoing surgery. They conclude that the lack of blood transfusion does not affect the success and safety of surgical interventions. Finally, Sagy et al. (2017) conducted a literature review to study current trends and Jehovah’s Witnesses. The authors’ conclusion is that the religious group’s refusal of blood transfusions has fostered medical innovations and resulted in a growing number of bloodless surgeries.
Potential Problems
Overall, both patients and nurses can face specific problems and challenges related to Jehovah’s Witnesses refusal of blood transfusions. First, representatives of this religious group may feel uncomfortable, judged, and unsafe when being treated, and their concerns should be addressed by nurses’ complete understanding and acceptance of this culture. Further, medical workers can be shocked by such patients refusing this necessary procedure. One way to overcome this issue is to teach nurses that various religions and cultures may impact people’s healthcare preferences. What is more, it is also the responsibility of such patients to explain their views on some health procedures. Finally, since the field is adapting to Jehovah’s Witnesses’ rule, most future conflicts will be prevented.
References
Chaer, F. E., & Ballen, K. K. (2020). Treatment of acute leukemia in adult Jehovah’s Witnesses. British Journal of Haematology, 190, 696–707.
Garoufalia, Z., Aggelis, A., Antoniou, E. A., Kouraklis, G., & Vagiano, C. (2022). Operating on Jehovah’s Witnesses: A challenging surgical issue. Journal of Religion and Health, 61, 2447–2457.
Ó Néill, C. (2017). Jehovah’s Witnesses and blood transfusions: An analysis of the legal protections afforded to adults and children in European/English human rights contexts. European Journal of Health Law, 24(4), 368-389.
Sagy, I., Jotkowitz, A., & Barski, L. (2017). Reflections on cultural preferences and internal medicine: The case of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the changing thresholds for blood transfusions. Journal of Religious Health, 56, 732–738.