How to Answer: An emergency room patient will die without a blood transfusion. The patients' medical records state refusal of blood transfusions due to religious reasons. What do you decide to do?
27. An emergency room patient will die without a blood transfusion. The patients' medical records state refusal of blood transfusions due to religious reasons. What do you decide to do?
How to Answer
Expressed consent is a fundamental issue in the medical community. The panel wants to see that you are capable of critical thinking, making sound medical decisions, while also displaying empathy and respect for the beliefs of your patients. Show that you can think in a multi-faceted, fair manner that respects all groups.
Answer Example
"I understand that some groups, such as the Jehovah's Witness, refuse transfusions of whole blood, red and white corpuscles, platelets and plasma. Many also refuse both natural and recombinant hemoglobin. There is a lot of ethical and legal debate around the refusal of potentially life-saving transfusions with very little agreement between groups. With that said, whether I would agree or not, I would need to do what is ethical and right in that particular situation. I would look to the ethics committee and other more seasoned medical professionals to come up with a response or treatment plan that we collectively felt was ethical and would have the most positive impact on the patient."
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