Refusal of Medical Treatment Based on Religious Beliefs: Jehovah's Witness Parents
![handle is hein.journals/contli16 and id is 93 raw text is: Refusal of Medical Treatment Based on
Religious Beliefs: Jehovah's
Witness Parents
KAREN L. DIAZ (Fall 2001)
The child is a citizen of the State. While he belongs to his parents he belongs
also to his State. Their rights in him entail many duties. Likewise the fact the
child belongs to the State imposes upon the State many duties. Chief among them
is the duty to protect his right to live and to grow up with a sound mind in a sound
body. When a religious doctrine espoused by the parents threatens to defeat or
curtail such a right of their child, the State's duty to step in and preserve the
child's right is immediately operative. To put it another way, when a child's right
to live and his parents' religious belief collide, the former is paramount, and the
religious doctrine must give way.
For most parents, the decision to authorize life-saving medical treatment
for themselves or their children is an easy one to make. For a minority of
parents, however, the decision is much more complicated. Jehovah's
Witnesses believe they will lose their eligibility to enter paradise if they
accept blood transfusions.2 Their belief is based on interpretations of
Biblical passages that forbid the ingestion of blood.3 Although they do
1. In re Clark, 185 N.E.2d 128, 130-32 (Ohio Ct. Common Pleas 1962) (passim)
(authorizing blood transfusion for badly burned child of Jehovah's Witnesses parents
over parents' objection on religious grounds).
2. Since 1876, Jehovah's Witnesses have believed that they are living in the 'last
days,' which will culminate in the Battle of Armageddon, when Christ will return to set up his
earthly kingdom. Jehovah's Witnesses typically refuse blood transfusions .... Other beliefs
of Jehovah's Witnesses include: One should not salute the flag; Birthdays, Christmas and
national holidays should not be celebrated; All governments are under the control of Satan;
All other religions are false religions; All governments and false religions stand in the way of
world peace; All military bodies are instruments of the devil; and No life-threatening
physical force should ever be used. Comment (Julie A. Koehne), Witnesses on Trial:
Judicial Intrusion Upon the Practices of Jehovah's Witness Parents, 21 Fla. St. U.L.
Rev. 205, 207-08 (1993) [citing M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of
Jehovah's Witnesses (1985); Waites v. Waites, 567 S.W.2d 326, 328-29 (Mo. 1978)].
3. Witnesses reason that because a blood transfusion is an intravenous feeding,
it is identical to 'eating blood,' a practice they strongly believe the Bible forbids. See](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/contli16&div=15&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Refusal of Medical Treatment Based on Religious Beliefs: Jehovah's Witness Parents
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most