Jehovah's Ethical Theory

Throughout history, there have been incidents when a healthcare professional has attempted to provide a medical treatment which conflicted with a patient’s religious or personal beliefs (Collier & Haliburton, 2015). For instance, Jehovah’s Witnesses have deep religious beliefs which forbid them from accepting blood transfusions (Trzciński et al., 2015). However, what does the healthcare professional do when a Jehovah’s Witness patient requires a blood transfusion in order to save their life? Does the health care provider continue to provide the lifesaving treatment even though the patient refuses due to their religious belief? This creates an ethical dilemma for healthcare professional as they aim to deliver care they believe that acts in their patient’s best interests, however must also respect their patient’s choices for medical treatment.
Through the application of the deontology theory, it will be argued that regardless of the potential health outcome, it is unethical for health care providers to interfere with competent patients and their rights to make decisions about their own medical