nach oben

Journal of Religion and Health

Erschienen in:

29.12.2016 | Original Paper

Reflections on Cultural Preferences and Internal Medicine: The Case of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Changing Thresholds for Blood Transfusions

verfasst von: Iftach Sagy, Alan Jotkowitz, Leonid Barski

Erschienen in: Journal of Religion and Health | Ausgabe 2/2017

Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten

Abstract

Jehovah’s witnesses oppose receiving blood transfusions based on religious grounds. This refusal raises complex medical, legal and ethical issues for the treating medical staff. In the past physicians attempted to force patients and children to accept transfusions when deemed medically necessary through the use of court orders. However, in recent years the threshold for blood transfusion has been gradually raised by medical experts as expressed in consensus guidelines, which means that Jehovah’s witnesses’ aversion to transfusion would have been partially justified medically. This article will further discuss these current trends.

Ballen, K. K., Becker, P. S., Yeap, B. Y., Matthews, B., Henry, D. H., & Ford, P. A. (2004). Autologous stem-cell transplantation can be performed safely without the use of blood-product support. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 22(20), 4087–4094.CrossRefPubMed

Bodnaruk, Z. M., Wong, C. J., & Thomas, M. J. (2004). Meeting the clinical challenge of care for Jehovah’s witnesses. Transfusion Medicine Reviews, 18(2), 105–116.CrossRefPubMed

Brunetta, D. M., et al. (2015) Severe acute anemia after liver transplantation in an elderly Jehovah’s witness treated with high-dose erythropoietin and ferric carboxymaltose: A case report. In: Transplantation Proceedings, Elsevier, Amsterdam.

Brunskill, S. J., Wilkinson, K. L., Doree, C., Trivella, M., & Stanworth, S. (2015) Transfusion of fresher versus older red blood cells for all conditions. The Cochrane Library.

Carson, J. L., Carless, P. A., & Hebert, P. C (2012). Transfusion thresholds and other strategies for guiding allogeneic red blood cell transfusion. The Cochrane Library.

Carson, J. L., Duff, A., Poses, R. M., Berlin, J. A., Spence, R. K., Trout, R., et al. (1996). Effect of anaemia and cardiovascular disease on surgical mortality and morbidity. The Lancet, 348(9034), 1055–1060.CrossRef

Carson, J. L., Grossman, B. J., Kleinman, S., Tinmouth, A. T., Marques, M. B., Fung, M. K., et al. (2012b). Red blood cell transfusion: A clinical practice guideline from the AABB. Annals of Internal Medicine, 157(1), 49–58.CrossRefPubMed

Carson, J. L., Noveck, H., Berlin, J. A., & Gould, S. A. (2002). Mortality and morbidity in patients with very low postoperative Hb levels who decline blood transfusion. Transfusion, 42(7), 812–818.CrossRefPubMed

Carson, J. L., Terrin, M. L., Noveck, H., Sanders, D. W., Chaitman, B. R., Rhoads, G. G., et al. (2011). Liberal or restrictive transfusion in high-risk patients after hip surgery. New England Journal of Medicine, 365(26), 2453–2462.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Chigbu, B., Onwere, S., Kamanu, C., Aluka, C., Okoro, O., Feyi-Waboso, P., et al. (2009). Lessons learned from the outcome of bloodless emergency laparotomies on Jehovah’s witness women presenting in the extremis with ruptured uterus. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 279(4), 469–472.CrossRefPubMed

Dabak, V., Kuriakose, P., & Raman, S. (2007). Successful management of a Jehovah’s witness with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura unwilling to be treated with therapeutic plasma exchange. Journal of Clinical Apheresis, 22(6), 330–332.CrossRefPubMed

Dalal, S., Boddapati, M., Lowery, M. N., Veillon, D. M., Glass, J., & Munker, R. (2006). Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in a Jehovah’s witness. Annals of Hematology, 85(6), 407–408.CrossRefPubMed

Digieri, L. A., Pistelli, I. P., & De Carvalho, C. E. (2006). The care of a child with multiple trauma and severe anemia who was a Jehovah’s witness. Hematology, 11(3), 187–191.CrossRefPubMed

Dyer, C. (2014). Doctors need not give blood transfusion to mentally ill Jehovah’s witness, judge rules. BMJ, 27(348), g2950.CrossRef

Ferraris, V. A., Ferraris, S. P., Saha, S. P., Hessel, E. A., Haan, C. K., Royston, B. D., et al. (2007). Perioperative blood transfusion and blood conservation in cardiac surgery: The society of thoracic surgeons and the society of cardiovascular anesthesiologists clinical practice guideline. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 83(5), S27–S86.CrossRefPubMed

Hamm, C. W., Bassand, J. P., Agewall, S., Bax, J., Boersma, E., Bueno, H., et al. (2011). ESC guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes in patients presenting without persistent ST-segment elevation: The task force for the management of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in patients presenting without persistent ST-segment elevation of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). European Heart Journal, 32(23), 2999–3054.CrossRefPubMed

Hébert, P. C., Wells, G., Blajchman, M. A., Marshall, J., Martin, C., Pagliarello, G., et al. (1999). A multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial of transfusion requirements in critical care. New England Journal of Medicine, 340(6), 409–417.CrossRefPubMed

Hegde, R., Bell, D., & Cole, P. (2006). The Jehovah’s witness and dementia: Who or what defines ‘best interests’? Anaesthesia, 61(8), 802–806.CrossRefPubMed

Hoffman, A. (2014) Jehovah’s witness parents’ refusal of blood transfusions: Ethical considerations for psychologists. Journal of Health Psychology.

Holst, L. B., Petersen, M. W., Haase, N., Perner, A., & Wetterslev, J. (2015). Restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategy for red blood cell transfusion: Systematic review of randomised trials with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis. BMJ, 24(350), h1354.CrossRef

Jassar, A. S., Ford, P. A., Haber, H. L., Isidro, A., Swain, J. D., Bavaria, J. E., et al. (2012). Cardiac surgery in Jehovah’s witness patients: Ten-year experience. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 93(1), 19–25.CrossRefPubMed

Jehovah’s witness official web site. http://www.jw.org/en/. Accessed 3 Nov 2015.

Keane, C., Mollee, P., Marlton, P., & Gill, D. (2011). Treatment of acute promyelocytic leukaemia in the Jehovah’s witness population. Annals of Hematology, 90(3), 359–360.CrossRefPubMed

Madueño, F. C., Tomás, E. A., & Velázquez, Á. S. (2013). Lung transplant in Jehovah’s witness patient. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 145(6), e65–e67.CrossRef

Muramoto, O. (1998a). Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah’s witnesses: Part 2. A novel approach based on rational non-interventional paternalism. Journal of Medical Ethics, 24(5), 295–301.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Muramoto, O. (1998b). Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah’s witnesses: Part 1. Should bioethical deliberation consider dissidents’ views? Journal of Medical Ethics, 24(4), 223–230.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Muramoto, O. (2001). Bioethical aspects of the recent changes in the policy of refusal of blood by Jehovah’s witnesses. BMJ, 322(7277), 37–39.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Napolitano, L. M., Kurek, S., Luchette, F. A., Corwin, H. L., Barie, P. S., Tisherman, S. A., et al. (2009). Clinical practice guideline: Red blood cell transfusion in adult trauma and critical care. Critical Care Medicine, 37(12), 3124–3157.CrossRefPubMed

Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. New Watchtower Blood Transfusion Policy. http://www.watchman.org/articles/jehovahs-witnesses/new-watchtower-blood-transfusion-policy/. Accessed 3 Nov 2015.

Rogers, D. M., & Crookston, K. P. (2006). The approach to the patient who refuses blood transfusion. Transfusion, 46(9), 1471–1477.CrossRefPubMed

Salpeter, S. R., Buckley, J. S., & Chatterjee, S. (2014). Impact of more restrictive blood transfusion strategies on clinical outcomes: a meta-analysis and systematic review. The American Journal of Medicine, 127(2), 124–131.CrossRefPubMed

Savulescu, J. (1995). Rational non-interventional paternalism: Why doctors ought to make judgments of what is best for their patients. Journal of Medical Ethics, 21(6), 327–331.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Shander, A., Javidroozi, M., Naqvi, S., Aregbeyen, O., Çaylan, M., Demir, S., et al. (2014). An update on mortality and morbidity in patients with very low postoperative hemoglobin levels who decline blood transfusion (CME). Transfusion, 54(10pt2), 2688–2695.CrossRefPubMed

Spasovski, G., Stankov, O., & Masin-Spasovska, J. (2014). Living-related donor kidney transplantation in Jehovah’s witness patient: The importance of EPO preconditioning. International Urology and Nephrology, 46(3), 669–670.CrossRefPubMed

Tanaka, A., Ota, T., Uriel, N., Asfaw, Z., Onsager, D., Lonchyna, V. A., et al. (2015). Cardiovascular surgery in Jehovah’s witness patients: The role of preoperative optimization. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 150(4), 976–983.CrossRefPubMed

Vaislic, C. D., Dalibon, N., Ponzio, O., Ba, M., Jugan, E., Lagneau, F., et al. (2012). Outcomes in cardiac surgery in 500 consecutive Jehovah’s witness patients: 21 year experience. Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery, 7(95), 8090–8097.

Villanueva, C., Colomo, A., Bosch, A., Concepción, M., Hernandez-Gea, V., Aracil, C., et al. (2013). Transfusion strategies for acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. New England Journal of Medicine, 368(1), 11–21.CrossRefPubMed

Virchis, A., Hughes, C., & Berney, S. (2004). Severe gastrointestinal haemorrhage responding to recombinant factor VIIa in a Jehovah’s witness with refractory immune thrombocytopenia. The Hematology Journal, 5(3), 281–282.CrossRefPubMed

Wang, J., & Klein, H. (2010). Red blood cell transfusion in the treatment and management of anaemia: The search for the elusive transfusion trigger. Vox Sanguinis, 98(1), 2–11.CrossRefPubMed

Questions From Readers. The Watchtower. 121:29–31. http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2004448. Accessed 3 Nov 2015.

Weinstein, A., Chandra, P., Schiavello, H., & Fleischer, A. (2005). Conservative management of placenta previa percreta in a Jehovah’s witness. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 105(5, Part 2), 1247–1250.CrossRefPubMed

White, S., & Baldwin, T. (2006). The Mental Capacity Act 2005—implications for anaesthesia and critical care. Anaesthesia, 61(4), 381–389.CrossRefPubMed

Wilson, P. (2005). Jehovah’s witness children: When religion and the law collide. Paediatric Nursing, 17(3), 34–37.CrossRefPubMed

Woolley, S. (2005a). Jehovah’s witnesses in the emergency department: What are their rights? Emergency Medicine Journal, 22(12), 869–871.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Woolley, S. (2005b). Children of Jehovah’s witnesses and adolescent Jehovah’s witnesses: What are their rights? Archives of Disease in Childhood, 90(7), 715–719.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Titel: Reflections on Cultural Preferences and Internal Medicine: The Case of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Changing Thresholds for Blood Transfusions
verfasst von: Iftach Sagy
Alan Jotkowitz
Leonid Barski
Publikationsdatum: 29.12.2016
Verlag: Springer US
Erschienen in: Journal of Religion and Health / Ausgabe 2/2017
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0353-1

Springer Medizin

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu diesem Inhalt zu erhalten

Weitere Artikel der Ausgabe 2/2017

Sense of Coherence (SOC) in Christian Orthodox Monks and Nuns in Greece

Theories and Modules Applied in Islamic Counseling Practices in Malaysia

Ethical Dilemmas at the End of Life: Islamic Perspective

Religious Coping and Substance Use: The Moderating Role of Sex

Muslim Scholars’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceived Barriers Towards Polio Immunization in Pakistan

Commitment to Celibacy in German Catholic Priests: Its Relation to Religious Practices, Psychosomatic Health and Psychosocial Resources