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06 December 2007 / Seamus Burns
Issue: 7300 / Categories: Features , Human rights
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Bad blood

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Should the law always respect the autonomous decisions of competent patients? Seamus Burns investigates

The recent announcement of the tragic death of 22-year-old Emma Gough, a Jehovah’s Witness, just hours after giving birth to twins, following her allegedly signing a form refusing a blood transfusion, signals yet again the importance the law places on respecting the autonomous decisions of competent patients concerning medical treatment—even if this results in serious injury to or the death of the patient.

One of the central tenets of the Jehovah’s Witness beliefs is the belief that taking blood into the body through the mouth or veins violates God’s teachings as revealed in the Bible. The Biblical genesis for this belief is, followers believe, located in several parts of the Bible, including Acts 15:28, where there is an unambiguous Biblical edict to “abstain from blood”, and in Leviticus 17:10, which states:

“And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats

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