Receiving blood without sanction

MANY issues of a civil, ethical and religious kind flow from the decision of the High Court to grant the Coombe Hospital the right to enforce a Jehovah’s Witness woman to receive a blood transfusion against her will.

One underlying reason why Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse such treatment is fear of being excommunicated by their organisation, as authoritatively directed by their Watchtower magazine.

Non-Jehovah’s Witnesses can only but imagine the impact such a discipline has upon any individual whose life is bound up in an organisation which they believe is the only vehicle of salvation.

Unknown to many Jehovah’s Witnesses in Ireland, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Bulgaria took their government to the European Court of Human Rights in 1998 to gain religious recognition.

A deal was struck whereby any Jehovah’s Witness in Bulgaria could have a blood transfusion if they so desired: “The applicant undertook with regard to its stance on blood transfusions to draft a statement for inclusion in its statute providing that members should have free choice in the matter for themselves and their children, without any control or sanction on the part of the association.” The full ruling can be accessed through the ECHR website at http://www.echr.coe.int/echr.

If a Jehovah’s Witness in Bulgaria can have a blood transfusion without incurring any sanction by their organisation, then surely the Jehovah Witnesses in Ireland should be able to enjoy the same liberty?

For the record, I am not, nor have I ever been, a Jehovah’s Witness.

Colin Maxwell

10 Briarscourt

Shanakiel

Cork