But that was not his situation he ran tests of many kinds. It could be seen that it would not be right for a Christian to work exclusively for a blood bank, where everything was devoted to an end that was in violation of God’s law. Could he do that?ĩ This Christian gave careful thought to the matter. But at other times it was to cross match for transfusion purposes. Sometimes it was simply to check a patient’s blood for the level of sugar or cholesterol. Among the many things he was expected to test were blood samples. But what if, on your job you were asked to handle blood or blood products occasionally? Would your conscience permit that? A Witness in Colorado worked in a hospital as the chief medical technician running tests of various types on body tissue and fluid. 9:3, 4 Acts 15:19, 20) Hence, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses do not eat food containing blood, such as blood sausage, or accept blood transfusions. The Bible states plainly that God’s servants should not feed on blood. So conscience can be involved.Ĩ For example, there are employment problems involving blood. And sometimes, while one’s basic work is unobjectionable, one may be asked occasionally to do something questionable. Certain employment may be in a "gray area," so to speak. 18:2, 4, 5) Not all employment matters, though, are that clear-cut. Some forms of employment, such as making idols, working in a gambling establishment or being employed by a false religious organization, are clearly contrary to the Scriptures. 215-216 Are You Guided by a Sensitive Christian Conscience? ***ħ Employment is an area that brings up many problems calling for the exercise of Christian conscience. We aren't supposed to impose our personal beliefs on patients, why should we be able to do it to our colleagues? Especially when the patient's informed choice to accept a blood transfusion is none of the nurse's personal "religious" business. Nurses are already running their butts off with the level of care that patients require, and to dump at least 4 extra hours worth of assessments and monitoring that administering a blood transfusion entails on your colleagues is going to go over like a lead balloon. It's not a huge deal to administer certain blood fractions (like WinRho or RhoGam for new mothers) but to pawn off a blood transfusion to another colleague (which requires HOURS of monitoring and follow-up) and not offer to take on an equivalent workload in exchange is a real pain in the ass. I think it's appalling that someone would knowingly embark on a profession that would put them in situations that create such an unprofessional level of conflict. They write the order and the nurse administers it. BTW, physicians don't usually do the "administering" of a blood transfusion. The WT article that I found stated that a JW physician would not be permitted to "order" a blood transfusion for a patient of theirs, however, a JW nurse - since they are not participating in the decision-making between the physician and the patient (or their proxy) - could, in good conscience, administer a blood transfusion. I never had the "pleasure" of working with her, but she made enough of a stink over her "sincerely held religious beliefs" not permitting her to administer a blood fraction (which, as we all know is a Conscience Matter™ that JWs can accept if they wish to do so) that my co-workers (and her teacher) asked me about it. I researched this (again) a few years ago when we had a JW nursing student being trained on our unit.
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