Abstract
Patients who are Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions because of their religions. Physicians are often confused with their beliefs, especially, in case of immature patients. In this paper, we describe appropriate measures for immature patients whose mothers are Jehovah's Witnesses. We treated three patients under the age eighteen whose mothers were Jehovah's Witnesses at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Two of them, the age of fifteen and seventeen have accepted blood transfusions at their own volition. For a nine-year-old patient, we performed bloodless treatment under his refusal of blood transfusion because we had considered he could make a decision at his own risk. Decision-making by minors is usually affected by their parents' determination. However, even to the minors, we should respect the patients' intention if he has sufficient ability of self-determination. Therefore, physicians should respect the parents' own informed choice in spite of their age, based on the sufficient communication with the patients and their family. Furthermore, when his judgment ability is inadequate for a decision-making, we should consider the blood transfusions or bloodless treatment by the judgment of an ethical committee in consideration of their parents' opinion.
