BIG - Irish Gov't Told to Set National Policy on JWs and Blood (page 3)

digderidoo

Whatever policy the Irish government come up with, they will have to respect a patients right to refuse. There is no getting around it.

The problem with European countries now is that any policy affecting individuals rights has to be in conjunction with the European Convention on Human Rights, any national policy that is not compatible with this doesn't have a chance of being upheld in national courts.

The fact of the matter is any policy not respecting the right of an adult refusing treatment will never be backed up by the Irish courts. It's just a lot of hot air being stirred up by someone.

Paul

Narkissos

DT's letter is quite to the point imo.

Perhaps another aspect of the issue that might be pointed out is the ambiguous role of JW HLCs which can interfere with patient information and consent even inside the hospitals. Maybe there is a need to clarify the protocols re: who can visit the patient and in what circumstances, who can access medical files or obtain personal information, and so on.

This of course is not simple because official representatives of any religion ("chaplains") are usually allowed free access to the patients who ask for them, if not to any patient. But if cases of pressure or other abuse of this situation can be documented (?), or simply in view of the particular overlapping of JW doctrine and medical practice, it might warrant a stricter control of JW visitors apart from the close family circle; this might include a qualification requirement for "official" visitors (making sure that at least they really understand the basic medical, legal and ethical implications of their role)...

This is just a suggestion fwiw, I'm not up to date with the current JW practices, let alone the legal issues involved.

DT

Thanks purps.

I can't see all the posts. Anybody else have that problem?

only me

I will send something. I will also share this with a couple other people.

Gladring

digderidoo said - "It's just a lot of hot air being stirred up by someone."

...and I tend to agree. This is fallout from a conference linked to in a post on page one by Mickey Mouse. It also follows on from a story I posted about last week here - http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/medical/173189/1/JW-Blood-Issue-on-Irish-Radio

The conference tickets cost 350 euro, otherwise I would have liked to go along. I don't see why the need for urgent action on this particular story. From reading material on the Haemo-vigilance page the professionals involved seem to be quite aware of the ethical issues involved.

digderidoo

I have been doing some reading upon the Mental Capacity Bill 2007 to which the article refers. Refering to the mental capacity to make informed decisions, this is interesting.

Under the proposed legislation, lack of capacity will be defined by focusing on the particular time when a decision has to be made and on the particular matter to which a decision relates and not on a capacity to make decisions generally.

This is a significant change from the current system, where a finding of incapacity applies to every decision a person may make and every legal transaction they may wish to enter into.

In his address, Mr Ahern said: "This is a Bill for and about adults who are vulnerable in the sense that they may lack some or all capacity to make important decisions for themselves,” Mr Ahern said.

I guess if the court found some coercion in making the decision, i.e. pressure at the time of signing the blood card, then a court may find that card invalid, when applying this legislation.

If on the other hand a person signed the hospital forms requesting no blood then that would be sufficient, but the blood card may be a risky one for Irish JW's.

If a policy was adopted in Ireland where blood cards were invalid due to a lack of capacity at the time of signing, the org would just make sure JW's signed some type of registered form with local GP's. They will always find a way around it. Would be interesting to see how this goes in the future.

Paul

purplesofa

I sent this letter.

As I was told recently, I am not very schooled, but I hope it will help.

purps

I am sure you have many emails on this issue. I would like to say that as a former Jehovah's Witness I found the blood policy very confusing. Especially when they changed their policy to taking fractions of blood. Even more confusing was their refusal to donate blood to benefit from accepting fractions. I have read stories of minors that have refused blood and died from doing so. I want to say how concerned I am that if this decision is made a member of Jehovahs Witnesses will be disfellowshipped and shunned for doing so. This is like a death sentence to a JW. This enormous amount of stress and pressure, I can only imangine facing these kinds of consequences in reality. While I respect the rights of freedom of religion, I think children should have the right to make this kind of decision as an informed adult, and beg the Office to spare any minors life until they can do so.

Thank-you,

purps