Main Guide Menu | Jehovah's Witnesses Section Menu
Beliefs about the treatment of illness
- Jehovah's Witnesses believe that taking blood into one's body is contrary to Biblical teaching and therefore is morally wrong. The implications of this belief are detailed under Blood Transfusion and Organ Transplantation below.
- Religious contacts emphasise that the Jehovah's Witnesses movement believes in modern medicine.
- In all circumstances, individual Witnesses make their own personal choices regarding medical procedures.
Religious contacts and religious practices
Essential Practice Point 2
- There are eight Hospital Liaison Committees in the Irish State who are available at any time to provide support to a Witness undergoing medical procedures, guidance to the treating time, and to assist/mediate in the event of challenging situations. The contact details for these personnel are provided at the end of the section.
- Patient Visitation Group members regularly visits hospitals in order to provide personal support and if necessary religious services to Witness patients. A contact for the local Patient Visitation Group can be sourced from the local Hospital Liaison Committee.
- Generally religious practices are free of ceremony, ritual and symbols. Patients who are terminally ill will no doubt appreciate pastoral visits from their elders (ministers) and would be grateful for a place of quietness where they can pray together. They may also wish to listen to recordings of congregational meetings.
(Return to Summary of Essential Practice Points)
- The Hospital Liaison Committees can arrange educational presentations for healthcare staff on Witness needs and the support that is available, as well as information on medical advances that have been pioneered using alternative non-blood medical management strategies. Research supporting these medical advances is produced in peer-reviewed medical research papers also available through the Hospital Liaison Committees. This work is co-ordinated by the Hospital Information Service at the national headquarters (contact details at the end of the section).
Food and the content of medicine
Essential Practice Point 3
Jehovah's Witnesses will refuse any food or medicine that may contain whole blood or the four primary components (red cells, white cells, plasma and platelets); for example black pudding.
(Return to Summary of Essential Practice Points)
Family dynamics and decision making
Family members may not share the religious views of the patient. If this affects the views of medical treatment, then the wishes of the patient must be paramount.
Blood Transfusion and Organ Transplantation
Essential Practice Point 4
- Jehovah's Witnesses absolutely refuse the transfusion of blood and primary blood components (red cells, white cells, plasma and platelets). This is a deeply-held core value, and they regard a non-consensual transfusion as a gross physical violation.
- Each Witness is free to decide whether to accept procedures involving Autologous Transfusion (their own blood). This includes all forms of perioperative/intraoperative blood salvage (cell saver), haemodilution, and postoperative blood salvage (wound drains). While machines, systems, and arrangements vary, each patient must decide how his or her own blood will be handled in the course of a surgical procedure, medical test, or current therapy.
(Return to Summary of Essential Practice Points)
- Autologous predeposit (i.e. own blood deposited in a blood bank, etc.) is not acceptable.
- The use of blood fractions (such as albumin, coagulation factors, (immunoglobulins) is a personal decision for each patient.
- Baptised Jehovah's Witnesses usually carry an advance care directive document, directing that no blood transfusions be given under any circumstances. This document releases the hospital from responsibility regarding the consequences of this decision. It also outlines their personal treatment choices regarding blood products and autologous (use of own blood) procedures. A copy of this document is generally lodged with the patient's G.P. Some Witness patients will refuse all blood products, others may accept some and not others. With regard to autologous procedures (using a patient's own blood), some accept and some do not. It is important to discuss and clarify with each patient what blood products and procedures are personally acceptable.
- Organ transplantation is a matter of personal choice for Jehovah's Witnesses. This would apply to solid organs as well as bone, tissue, muscle, etc. Organ donation is similarly a matter of personal choice.
