Case of a Jehovah's Witness Undergoing Blood Transfusion Due to a Traffic Accident Despite the Patient's Religion-based Refusal

An 18-year-old Jehovah's Witness injured in a traffic accident developed hypovolemic shock. Total blood loss due to a crushed pelvic fracture and degloving injury of the lower limb was estimated at more than 3, 000ml and the patient's hematocrit fell to 10.8%. The patient refused blood transfusion on religious grounds, virtually ensuring death. Failing to provide blood transfusion involved the following potential problems: i) the truck driver hitting the patient could charged with homicide rather than unintentional infliction of injury, and ii) the hospital could be sued by the patient's family or the truck driver for not providing reasonable treatment. Blood on these considerations, we transfused the patient with 30 units of blood before obtaining consent. The patient recovered uneventfully thanks to the blood transfusion followed by embolization of the iliac artery and surgery. Fortunately, neither the patient nor his family complained about treatment, and even thanked us.