Top court in Japan backs right to refuse blood
Yomiuri Shimbun
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that surgeons violated a woman's right to self-determination when they gave her a blood transfusion during an operation, breaking their promise not to do so even if it meant she would die.
The Supreme Court upheld the Tokyo High Court's ruling that ordered the government and surgeons to pay 550,000 yen in compensation. The lawsuit was filed by a Jehovah's Witness who died before the Supreme Court handed down its verdict. She had demanded 12 million yen in compensation from the government, which supervises a hospital affiliated with Tokyo University's Institute of Medical Science, and the three surgeons who operated on her. She insisted that the three surgeons gave her a blood transfusion despite her request that she not be given one on religious grounds. The woman died during the trial and her family took over the lawsuit.
The main focus of the lawsuit was on which took priority: A patient's right to self-determination based on religious beliefs, or a doctors' obligation to try to save a life.
The Petty Bench of the Supreme Court said, "If a patient is adamant that a blood transfusion would violate her religious beliefs, her right to refuse one must be respected as part of her personal rights." The Petty Bench ruled that the surgeons violated her personal rights by offering her an inadequate explanation, and turned down appeals by both sides.
It was the first time that the Supreme Court has ruled that a patient's right to make decisions regarding her treatment was a human right. The Petty Bench said, "Because the doctors failed to give an adequate explanation, the plaintiff was deprived of her right to determine for herself whether she would undergo an operation that may require a blood transfusions. (The accused) bear a responsibility to calm her mental anguish as they violated her personal rights."
Copyright 2000 The Yomiuri Shimbun