Rationing Organs for Religious Refuseniks

Patheos | Adam Lee
Since new medical advances always catch my attention, I read with interest this article about “bloodless” lung transplants being pioneered at some hospitals â€" that is, salvaging and re-infusing the patient’s own blood, rather than relying on transfusions from donors. It’s being sold as a cost-saving technique and a way to lessen the risk of allergic reactions or other rare side effects, plus it conserves donated blood so that more is available for emergencies. But the technique was developed for a different reason, which I bet you can guess:
Ms. Tomczak, who was baptized at age 12 as a Jehovah’s Witness, insisted for religious reasons that her transplant be performed without a blood transfusion. The Witnesses believe that Scripture prohibits the transfusion of blood, even one’s own, at the risk of forfeiting eternal life.
I must be jaded, because the idea of a Jehovah’s Witness refusing blood and dying because of it doesn’t shock me any more. But this story had a gut-wrenching twist: Rebecca Tomczak, the Witness who’s the subject of the article, was adamant that she wanted the lung transplant, but not a blood transfusion, even at the cost of her own life. She forced her surgeon to agree that if there was a disaster, if she started to hemorrhage on the operating table, he had to stand back and let her die: Do you agree with Mr. Lee's position?

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