Law &. Ethics for Medical Careers 5th Edition by Karen Judson,Carlene Harrison

Exercise 55

As a health care practitioner you are committed to acting in the patient's best interest, and you believe that the wishes of patients in end-of-life situations should be followed. Furthermore, professional codes of ethics generally state that the social commitment of health care practitioners is to sustain life and relieve suffering, and that when the performance of one duty conflicts with the other, the preferences of the patient should prevail.
A young mother who was severely injured in a car accident is brought into the hospital trauma center where you work. She belongs to the Jehovah's Witnesses church, and emphatically states that she refuses to have a blood transfusion. You know she risks death without a transfusion, but she believes her decision is a matter of her salvation. As a member of the patient's health care team, what will you do?
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