I'm not sure if this belongs in GD or in Tilted Philosophy, but mods of course feel free to move if appropriate.
I saw this in the news this morning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/s...re/7078455.stm
Quote:
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A young mother died after giving birth to twins because her Jehovah's Witness faith prevented her from accepting a blood transfusion, it has emerged.
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Firstly, I didn't realise that Jehovah's Witnesses weren't allowed to receive blood transfusions. I did a bit of further reading and learned that it stretches beyond just blood transfusions... any kind of medical treatment involving any blood component is also a part of this, including vaccines and treatment for hemophiliacs.
http://www.ajwrb.org/basics/abstain.shtml
Much to my surprise, the premise of the belief according to that page is the simple three words in Acts 15:29 which are "abstain from blood" (on an aside, the issue of whether that would include blood donated by that same person at an earlier date is unclear to me, but it seems logical that since the blood was okay while it was in their body, re-introducing it shouldn't be an issue... a possible way around this?).
Anyway my question wasn't really one of beliefs - I don't agree with their position, but respect their right to hold it - but one of ethics for the doctors involved. Let's say in this case it had been the twins that had needed the blood, and the parents had refused the treatment. The twins would die if a blood transfusion did not take place. The parents are bound by their beliefs, but should the doctors be bound more by their oath to do what is best for their patient (against the wishes of the guardians of the parent), or should they respect the wishes of their patient's guardian (or their patient) even if they know that medically it's condemning them to death?
I'm still formulating my position on this, but I will say that this case makes me quite sad. I'm sure the widower father of the twins must be going through a hard time having just lost the mother of his newborn twins, and if he's anything like me he will be questioning whether they made the right decision. At the same time, I suppose if their beliefs were that important to them, they would have lived in guilt had they chosen to go ahead with the transfusion.