Transfusion policy for Jehovah's Witnesses needed, forum told

A SINGLE policy to manage the requirements of Jehovah’s Witness patients should be developed and implemented in all hospitals, a conference on medical consent heard yesterday.

Such a development could benefit patients and practitioners, and assist in the challenge of managing blood loss among Ireland’s increasingly ethnic population, Dr Emer Lawlor of the National Haemovigilance Office said.

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Bible prohibits eating blood and its storage and transfusion, even in instances of medical emergency.

An estimated 5,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses live in Ireland and their beliefs have resulted in a series of legal challenges after hospitals sought court orders to overrule objections to blood transfusions by members of the community or their families.

Dr Lawlor said hospitals treating Jehovah’s Witnesses should utilise all measures to reduce blood loss, be given contact details for legal representatives of patients, and that hospital refusal forms should clearly explain the consequences of any decision.

“In a general sense, every hospital should have a policy for managing Jehovah’s Witness patients,” she said.

“But I am of the opinion that there should be a national overall policy.”

The conference, The Principle of Consent, organised by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, discussed issues associated with consent from both medical and legal perspectives.

Dr Simon Mills, a lecturer in medical law, said patients have a statutory right to refuse treatment and are not obligated to undergo procedures, regardless of the severity of their illness, if it is contrary to their religious beliefs.

“Once a person is in a position to give consent, they are also in a position to refuse it,” he said.

“As with giving consent, the refusal must be voluntary, informed and backed up by the necessary capacity.”

Dr Mills said he expected the Mental Capacity Bill 2007, which is making its way through the Oireachtas, to define issues surrounding consent more clearly.

Sheila O’Connor, of advocacy group Patient Focus, said many of the people who contacted the group believed they had ceded less consent than medical professionals assumed in treatment.

Ms O’Connor said many doctors and nurses believed they do not make mistakes in their work, but that a number of medical practitioners had contacted the group as they were wounded by the bad experiences of their patients.
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(Source: IT)