Oa. Akingbola et al., MANAGEMENT OF SEVERE ANEMIA WITHOUT TRANSFUSION IN A PEDIATRIC JEHOVAH-WITNESS PATIENT, Critical care medicine, 22(3), 1994, pp. 524-528
The Jehovah's Witness religion was founded in the late 1870s by Charle
s Russell in Pittsburgh, PA (1). There are over half a million Jehovah
's Witnesses in the United States (2). Members of this religious sect
do not receive blood transfusions, a religious tenet that continues to
pose ethical and clinical challenges to physicians. In a study of adu
lt Jehovah's Witnesses, a majority indicated that they would not consi
der seeing a physician who intended to force a transfusion (3). We rep
ort the case of a 12-yr-old Jehovah's Witness who refused blood transf
usion for a severe anemia which he developed after receiving a renal t
ransplant.