Title
The Legality of Providing Medical Treatment to Jehovah's Witnesses. General Comments
Authors
[ 1 ] Wydział Prawa i Administracji, Akademia Sztuki Wojennej | [ P ] employee
Scientific discipline (Law 2.0)
Year of publication
2022
Published in
Article type
scientific article
Publication language
english
Abstract
EN Blood transfusion is one of the modern medical treatments. However, not all patients want to benefit from such a procedure. Jehovah's Witnesses are among those who refuse to undergo a transfusion. undergoing a transfusion is contrary to their beliefs. Nowadays, medicine offers the possibility of using other blood-like preparations (blood products). However, they cannot be used in every case. Not giving a transfusion when other treatments have proved insufficient leads to a conflict of values. In such situations, the doctor must make a treatment decision, bearing in mind the patient's right to self-determination and the duty to save human health and life. In Poland, the legality of performing medical treatment depends on obtaining the patient's consent. However, there are situations in which the patient can be subjected to compulsory treatment, as in situations that threaten the patient's life, and the law is liberalised. An example of this is the therapeutic exception, which allows a doctor to extend a therapeutic procedure without the patient's consent if its performance is life-saving. In each of these situations, there is an ethical and legal problem related to a conflict of values. This paper identifies the causes of this conflict of values and presents the legal regulations in the Polish legal order concerning the legality of providing medical treatment (blood transfusions) to Jehovah's Witnesses.
Date of online publication
27.02.2023
Pages (from - to)
56 - 69
License type
CC BY (attribution alone)
Open Access Mode
open journal
Open Access Text Version
final published version
Release date
27.02.2023
Date of Open Access to the publication
at the time of publication
Ministry points / journal
5
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