Jehovah's Witnesses and autonomy: honouring the refusal of blood transfusions.
This paper explores the scriptural and theological reasons given by Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) to refuse blood transfusions. Julian Savulescu and Richard W Momeyer argue that informed consent should be based on rational beliefs and that the refusal of blood transfusions by JWs is irrational, but after examining the reasons given by JWs, I challenge the claim that JW beliefs are irrational. I also question whether we should give up the traditional notion of informed consent.
Department of Philosophy, Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN 37813, USA. greg.bock@ws.edu
Gregory L
GL
Bock
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016913:Blood Component Transfusion; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003068:Coercion; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics*; D033221:Jehovah's Witnesses; D007600:Judgment; D008606:Mental Processes; D033242:Minors; D033282:Parental Consent / Q000941:ethics; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012067:Religion; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000523:psychology