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Review
. 2017 Apr;56(2):732-738.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-016-0353-1.

Reflections on Cultural Preferences and Internal Medicine: The Case of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Changing Thresholds for Blood Transfusions

Iftach Sagy  1   2 , Alan Jotkowitz  3 , Leonid Barski  3
Affiliations
Review

Reflections on Cultural Preferences and Internal Medicine: The Case of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Changing Thresholds for Blood Transfusions

Iftach Sagy et al. J Relig Health. 2017 Apr.

Erratum in

Abstract

Jehovah's witnesses oppose receiving blood transfusions based on religious grounds. This refusal raises complex medical, legal and ethical issues for the treating medical staff. In the past physicians attempted to force patients and children to accept transfusions when deemed medically necessary through the use of court orders. However, in recent years the threshold for blood transfusion has been gradually raised by medical experts as expressed in consensus guidelines, which means that Jehovah's witnesses' aversion to transfusion would have been partially justified medically. This article will further discuss these current trends.

Keywords: Blood aversion; Blood transfusion; Hemoglobin threshold; Jehovah’s witness.

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References

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