title: Meeting the clinical challenge of care for Jehovah's Witnesses.
abstract: Quality patient care entails more than simply biomedical interventions. Respect for the wishes, values, and preferences of patients are important elements of quality care. Unique aspects of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses may present physicians with ethical and clinical conflicts. Witnesses believe that allogeneic blood transfusion (ie, whole blood, red blood cells, white cells, platelets, and plasma) and preoperative autologous blood deposit (PAD) are prohibited by several Biblical passages. This article reviews the Witness position on medical care, blood components, and fractions, placing these and related interventions into categories that may help physicians to individualize clinical management plans and meet the challenge of caring for patients who are Jehovah's Witnesses. It includes an overview of cost, safety, efficacy, and medicolegal issues related to patient care using transfusion-alternative strategies.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Information Services for Jehovah's Witnesses (Canada), Georgetown, ON L7G 4Y4, Canada. zbodnaruk@wtbts.ca
authors.forename: Zenon M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Bodnaruk
authors.forename: Colin J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Mervyn J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D001802:Blood Substitutes; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D002835:Christianity; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D033221:Jehovah's Witnesses; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D016312:Treatment Refusal
chemical_list: D001802:Blood Substitutes