Would you let religion dictate whether your child lives or dies?

[diggitydot]

OMGosh, don't apologize! It was a great point to bring up.

[diggitydot]

Rapunzel, I'm very close with several JW's. I'll ask them if there are any docs at their Kingdom Hall who might have some insight on this.

[v-girl]

It is one thing to deny yourself medical care that would save your life or limb (such as with a living will or verbally). It is another thing to deny another person their life or limb. I think that is the line for me. If you knowingly deprive another innocent human being (not a criminal on death row being punished for heinous crimes such as denying other people the right to life) of their own right to life then how does that make you different from a murderer?

Word.

[v-girl]

A bunch of my cousins in Panama are JW, but none are doctors. Now, I remember years ago when one of my cousins was faced with her husband falling into a diabetic coma. I know she wanted everything done to save his life. They're separated now, but I can't imagine her denying her daughter medical care that could save her life.

[diggitydot]

I think it depends on the person. One of my JW friends had serious health issues and *still* refused all attempts for transfusions. She was very hardcore about it. Granted, this is also a family that won't talk to their own mother because she was disfellowshipped decades ago.

[medpedspouse]

I have a question. I don't know if we have any practicing Jehovah's Witnesses on here who could answer this for me....

If you are a JW doctor and believe blood transfusions are immoral - to the point that you would willingly die rather than receive one yourself - how do you handle a situation where you might be involved in a blood transfusion? Do you just avoid the specialties that could get into transfusions?

I think in this case the doctor would be making the decision based on his or her belief system NOT the patient's.

[poky]

I think in this case the doctor would be making the decision based on his or her belief system NOT the patient's.

Right, but that's exactly what pharmasists who refuse to deal with birth control do.

I assume they do just avoid those specialities. My dh is a Transfusion Medicine Specialist and there sure weren't any JW docs there! I asked him about it, and he said he couldn't imagine how you could practice medicine if you held those beliefs. I imagine you could do Primary Care, straight clinic work, or Psychiarty. But still, you have to work through those rotations in med school.

[v-girl]

I googled it. Here's what I found: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watc...od-transfusion

I don't know about JW docs, but DH's Ob/Gyn program had Catholic residents, some of whom were not comfortable with sterilization procedures or birth control (at least, not in purely elective cases, where it wasn't otherwise medically necessary). Those residents did quality work and had good attitudes & work ethic, so DH & the other residents were friendly about covering their sterilizations & BC prescriptions. It's a very Catholic area - there will be lots of patients looking for Catholic doctors to deliver their babies.

[SoonerTexan]

I don't know about JW docs, but DH's Ob/Gyn program had Catholic residents, some of whom were not comfortable with sterilization procedures or birth control (at least, not in purely elective cases, where it wasn't otherwise medically necessary). Those residents did quality work and had good attitudes & work ethic, so DH & the other residents were friendly about covering their sterilizations & BC prescriptions. It's a very Catholic area - there will be lots of patients looking for Catholic doctors to deliver their babies.

That's interesting--FIL was able to do this in the late 80s/early 90s, but I didn't think it would be possible now, unless you were at a Catholic hospital.

That's interesting--FIL was able to do this in the late 80s/early 90s, but I didn't think it would be possible now, unless you were at a Catholic hospital.

Nope, not a Catholic hospital. I don't know all the details, if they did some tubals to learn the procedure for passing residency. But at least for the most part, others covered for them, and it worked ok for the patients and the doctors.

ETA - I see this as different from a PARENT refusing critical treatment for a CHILD. I don't know what I'd decide about that (although I'd like to adopt all those kids myself ). But I can't see how a JW could pass a residency program that involved any transfusions. I think the government should always be neutral about religions, but I tend to think that employers can "discriminate" when a person's beliefs or abilities make it impossible to do the job (and I'm not talking about one peripheral procedure). When government funding seeps into everything, though, it's really not so clear-cut.

[migirl]

We're at a public institution (state-funded University hospital) and one of the urology attendings is Catholic and will not perform vasectomies.