QUESTION 27 OF 30

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?

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.

"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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Anonymous Answer

Being a physician, I would always strive to take my patient's best interests as they have a right to make their own choices. If the patient is awake and determined to be in a mental state capable of making decisions on their own I would consult the patient regarding this matter. I would ensure to discuss with the patient that they completely understand the risks and consequences of refusing a blood transfusion. I would discuss possible alternatives for treatment, but again stress the importance of the risk of death is still present if the patient does not receive the blood transfusion. If the patient presents unconscious and unable to make immediate decisions, I would need to consult a higher authority, ethical committee, or fellow attendees on the matter to try and devise an avenue of treatment that would benefit the patient, and hopefully, still, respect the patient's medical decisions.

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Multiple Mini Interview Questions

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?

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