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Literature Review

                    Religious Beliefs and Refusal of Medical Treatment

In the medical field treatment is always centered around the patient. This means that the medical staff have to create a care plan that is convenient for the patient. This includes adhering to the patient’s wishes, which can also include refusing medical treatment due to religious reasons. There are many religious groups who refuse certain medical interventions even though these treatments can save their lives. This is a very common and delicate issue that many healthcare professionals have to deal with. Which brings about several questions: who are these religious groups and which medical treatments do they refuse, are there exceptions or alternatives for treatments for these religious groups that refuse, and what are the legal and ethical problems that follow with refusing medical treatment?

          Who Are These Religious Groups And Which Medical Treatments Do                                                           They Refuse

Christian Scientists

In general Christian Scientists believe that Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, had “...developed the ability to heal herself and others physically through prayer and her [metaphysical] interpretation of the Bible…” (Steckler) A study done by the Journal of Scientific Study of Religion defines that healing through metaphysical methods is more of a spiritual type of healing rather than physically healing the body. This study also found that Christian Scientists will use three strategies when they are trying to treat an illness. First they will try to seek guidance from God, which is a readily available source for answers for these people. It is also a good place for these people to turn to when they are lost and do not know what to do. If they are unable to obtain an answer from then it is normally viewed as a “... personal error rather than the will of God or a flaw in Christian Science treatment.” Meaning that the problem lies with the individual and not with God nor the teachings of Christian Science. When this happens Christian Scientists start to assess  their metaphysical capabilities to see if they can heal wounds, including physical ones such as broken bones. However, if an individual's metaphysical capabilities are not strong enough then they will not be able to heal certain wounds. Furthermore, physical injuries are more difficult to heal, so in order to treat these their metaphysical capabilities need to be really strong. If their capabilities are not strong enough Christian Scientists fall back to their last strategy for treatment, which is to consider professional medical intervention.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

The other religious group is the Jehovah’s Witnesses who only refuse blood transfusions. This refusal is based on certain passages in the Bible. Basically “The prohibition of transfusions is based on the premise that transfusions are similar to eating blood; the rules for handling animal blood are also applicable to human blood” (Ringes) This reasoning essentially ties into why the Jehovah’s Witnesses reject  foods that contain blood. As previously stated this group only refuses blood transfusions, meaning that they will not refuse other procedures unless they involve a transfusion. An example of this is an invasive surgery where several packs of blood are needed to make sure the patient does not bleed out during the procedure. Unfortunately, due to this belief there were many Jehovah’s Witnesses that have passed away. For example, there was a case in Ringe’s article where a “...twenty-two-year-old Jehovah’s Witness (JW) Emma Gough, from Britain, died after giving birth to twins in 2007…” because she refused to accept blood transfusions after suffering from a sudden hemorrhage.

Exceptions and Alternative Treatment

Fortunately due to religions being more open-minded as well as advancements in medical treatments there are ways for religious groups, such as the Christian Scientists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, to get the medical attention they need. As explained previously the third strategy to seek treatment for the Christian Scientists involves them pursuing conventional medical treatment. It is explained that “... many adherents indicated that they have, or would be willing to, pursue conventional medical treatment in situations where metaphysical healing methods are impractical or have not been successful.” (Boyer)  However, it is really up to the individual if they want to pursue this third option. Fortunately, any Christian Scientist that decides to use medical science is not considered as a rejection of the religion. Instead it is “...perceived as a departure from Christian Science as a healing modality…” (Boyer)

For the Jehovah’s Witnesses there are alternative treatments that  will aid with their medical conditions that do not involve the use of blood transfusions. It is explained that “The medical community has often offered JWs alternatives to blood transfusion, such as bloodless surgery and transplantations... and blood substitutes.” (Ringes) Unfortunately, alternatives such  as these are not always available in clinical situations, which can very likely end up in the worse case scenario of an early death. (expand on article more)

Legal and Ethical Issues With Refusing Treatment

The most troublesome problems that are involved with refusing treatment are the legal and ethical issues. The most common ones are the incidents when the parents refuse treatment for their child, which can be considered religious based medical neglect and child abuse. For example, there was a case that involved a two year old boy, Harrison Johnson, getting stung 432 times by wasps. However, instead of taking their child immediately to the hospital, Harrsion’s parents decided to abide by their Christian Science doctrine and “...requested that fellow church members and neighborhood children pray for Harrison.” (Boyer) After seven hours of their child suffering Harrsion’s parents decided to call 911, but when the E.M.T arrived Harrsion was found dead. (expand more and cite another article for another case)

These legal cases are not just limited to children and patients. There are healthcare professionals that refuse to give their patients certain medications due to religious beliefs. For example, there was a pharmacist in Michigan who refused to give a female patient her medications for her miscarrange due to his Catholic beliefs.

                                           Works Cited

Boyer, Mitsy. “Death by Religious Exemption: Parents Refusing Their Child Necessary Medical Treatment Based upon Their Own Religious Beliefs - Should States Endorse a System That Denies Necessary Medical Treatment to Children.” Whittier Journal of Child and Family Advocacy, vol. 4, no. 1, 2004, pp. 147–162. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals.wjcfad4.23&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Caron, Christina. “Michigan Pharmacist Refused to Dispense Miscarriage Medication, Citing Religious Beliefs.” The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=edsgac&AN=edsgac.A558791903&site=eds-live&scope=site. 

Effa-Heap G. “Blood Transfusion: Implications of Treating a Jehovah’s Witness Patient.” British Journal of Nursing, vol. 18, no. 3, Feb. 2009, pp. 174–177. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=ccm&AN=105455279&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Steckler, Rebecca A., and John P. Bartkowski. “‘God Is My First Aid Kit’: The Negotiation of Health and Illness among Christian Scientists.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 57, no. 3, Sept. 2018, pp. 585–603. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/jssr.12533.

Ringnes, Hege Kristin, and Harald Hegstad. “Refusal of Medical Blood Transfusions Among Jehovah’s Witnesses: Emotion Regulation of the Dissonance of Saving and Sacrificing Life.” Journal of Religion and Health, vol. 55, no. 5, Oct. 2016, pp. 1672–1687. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10943-016-0236-5.

“Why Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses Accept Blood Transfusions?” JW.ORG, www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jehovahs-witnesses-why-no-blood-transfusions/.