JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES THE SURGICAL/ETHICAL CHALLENGE - LEGAL CONCERNS AND MINORS

Witnesses readily sign  the American Medical Association form relieving physicians and hospitals of liability, and most Witnesses carry a dated, witnessed Medical Alert card  prepared in consultation with medical and legal authorities.  These documents are binding on the patient (or his estate) and offer protection to physicians, for Justice Warren Burger held that a malpractice proceeding "would  appear unsupported"  where a waiver had been signed. Also, commenting on this in an analysis of "compulsory medical treatment and religious freedom"  Paris wrote:  "One commentator who surveyed the literature reported,  'I have not been able to force a transfusion on an unwilling patient.'  The risk seems more  the product of a fertile legal mind than a realistic possibility." 

Care of minors presents the greatest concern, often resulting in legal action against parents under child neglect statutes.  But such actions are questions by many physicians and attorneys familiar with Witness cases, who believe that Witness parents seek good medical care for their children. Not desirous of shirking their parental responsibility or of shifting it to a judge or other third party, Witnesses urge that consideration be given to the family's religious tenets.  Dr. A.D. Kelly, former Secretary of the Canadian Medical Association, wrote that "parents of minors and the next of kin of unconscious patients possess the right to interpret the will of the patient. . . I do not admire the proceedings of a moot court assembled at 2:00 AM to remove a child from his parent's custody." 

It is axiomatic that parents have a voice in the care of their children, such as when the risk-benefit potentials of surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy are faced. For moral reasons that go beyond the issue of the risk of the transfusion, Witness parents ask that therapies  be used that are not religiously prohibited.  This accords with the medical of tenet of treating "the whole person," not overlooking the possible lasting psychosocial damage of an invasive procedure that violates a family's fundamental  beliefs.  Often, large centers around the country having experience with the Witnesses, now accept patient transfers from institutions unwilling to treat Witnesses, even pediatric cases. 

Next time: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES THE SURGICAL/ETHICAL CHALLENGE - THE PHYSICIAN'S CHALLENGE

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