Autopsy

ethic

I am not a Jehovah's Witness. I am a physician, training in pathology. In that capacity, it is my duty to perform autopsies on patients who die in the hospital where I work. Recently, a Jehovah's Witness died (all indications are that causes are natural) and her sons requested an autopsy to determine the cause of death. At the end of her life, they refused blood transfusions and other interventions on her behalf (she was not competent to make decisions) on the grounds that she was a Jehovah's Witness.

Are autopsies not mandated by federal law permissible? Is there an unequivocal Jehovah's Witness church position on this issue or is it left to the discretion of the individual?

osmosis

As for the law, you're supposed to know that better than we are. As for ethics, same answer. Don't you have to take a medical ethics course?

Personally, I wouldn't even bother trying to determine the church's position on the matter, it's irrelevant. Your job is your job and the law is the law, and the church's opinion is, well, irrelevant.

SickofLies

Agreed, I attend a University which is famous for being one of the best teaching hospitals in the world and I know for a fact if your a doctor you have access to an entire team of laywers at your disposal anytime you want. I would sugest you consult them instead of random people on a message board.

Dr Jekyll

There is no scriptural reason not to have an autopsy. Witnesses believe that when you are dead you are dead.

TresHappy

I thought autopsies were only done when there was a non-attending medical person at the time of death; such as car accident, murder, etc - if a person is found dead, things like that. Most JW's would not object to an autopsy; since they believe when the body dies the soul dies too...actually JW's view of death is one of the few things I actually believed when I was a JW.