The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 122, Issue 12 , Pages 1071-1076, December 2009

Management of Adult Jehovah's Witness Patients with Acute Bleeding

  • Kenrick Berend, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Medicine, St. Elisabeth Hospital, Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
    • Corresponding Author InformationRequests for reprints should be addressed to Kenrick Berend, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, St. Elisabeth Hospital, Breedestraat 193, Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles
    • ,
  • Marcel Levi, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Medicine, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract 

Because of the firm refusal of transfusion of blood and blood components by Jehovah's Witnesses, the management of Jehovah's Witness patients with severe bleeding is often complicated by medical, ethical, and legal concerns. Because of a rapidly growing and worldwide membership, physicians working in hospitals should be prepared to manage these patients. Appropriate management of a Jehovah's Witness patient with severe bleeding entails understanding of the legal and ethical issues involved, and meticulous medical management, including treatment of hypovolemic shock, local hemostatic interventions, and administration of prohemostatic agents, when appropriate. In addition, high-dose recombinant erythropoietin in combination with supplemental iron may enhance the speed of hemoglobin synthesis.

Keywords: Acute bleeding, Jehovah's Witnesses, Review

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 Funding: None; no funding sources for this manuscript.

 Conflict of Interest: There are no conflicts of interest to disclose.

 Authorship: Both authors had access to the data and content of this manuscript and had a role in the writing of the manuscript.

PII: S0002-9343(09)00775-X

doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.06.028

The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 122, Issue 12 , Pages 1071-1076, December 2009

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