Legal guardians and refusal of blood transfusion

Description

The punctum dolens of the refusal to receive blood transfusions by Jehovah's Witnesses has been particularly relevant from a legal point of view, being an issue of great importance and always of topical interest deriving from the relation between life-saving healthcare treatments and the religious beliefs of a patient. From an analysis of the evolution of Italian Civil and Criminal jurisprudence, a fairly clear orientation seems to be emerging according to which the doctor, faced with a conscious patient who expresses informed, unequivocal and current refusal of a medical treatment, even when this is life-saving, must respect the patient's wishes, since the fact that death is generally considered a negative event cannot obstruct or render null the legitimate exercise of a person's right to refuse healthcare. However, the limitation of this compromise is exposed when faced with an unconscious person who has previous expressed his or her will, also documenting it, with regards to the acceptance or refusal of healthcare treatments.

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