CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

PETR ŠUSTEK CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ the country’s (vastly non-congregational) population of 10.5 million. Nevertheless, their strenuous missionary efforts make them visible, while the strict restrictions the faithful are obliged to respect contribute to the curious interest of the majority. Probably the most well-known part of the church’s ethical teachings is the prohibition of blood transfusions. While it is irrational and dangerous in the eyes of most people outside the religious organisation, Jehovah’s Witnesses usually understand it as an important and unsurpassable commandment. Receiving blood may prolong earthly life, they argue, but at the risk of eternal damnation. A bioethicist Ruth Macklin pregnantly explained the dilemma from the perspective of patient autonomy-based approach: We may believe very strongly this man is making a mistake (…) But Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that to be transfused is to ‘eat blood’ and that eating blood will result in eternal damnation. We are trained to do risk-benefit analyses in medicine but if you weigh eternal damnation against remaining life on earth, the analysis assumes a different angle. 4 Every adult and fully competent patient has the right to refuse any medical intervention without the need to state or justify their reasons. However, the situation is dramatically different when the patient is minor. In that case, the parents’ refusal will most likely be overruled by the court and blood transfusion will be provided to the child. In this context, several pressing questions arise. How exactly does this state interference work in the Czech Republic? How is it justified within the framework of the human rights protection? While the paper represents a coherent introduction to its topic, it is meant to form a part of a series of papers in this issue of the Czech Yearbook of Public & Private International Law . For that reason, it focuses on the rather narrow topic of the use of blood products in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ children. The more general questions of religious and cultural context of parental decision-making in the Czech Republic, 5 the role of the international human rights law framework and Czech constitutional order as well as the ethical justification of the interference with the parental rights, 6 or the problem of futile paediatric care 7 are dealt with in the related papers. 1. Czech Case Law The crucial case related to the provision of blood products to a Jehovah’s Witnesses’ child dates back to 2004. In the summer of that year, the Constitutional Court issued judgment 4 As cited in a classic New York Times newspaper article: KLEIMAN, D. Hospital Philosopher Confronts Life’s Basic Issues. The New York Times. (23 January 1984.) accessed 15 August 2022. 5 See VAN BEERSEL KREJČÍKOVÁ, H. Minors’ right to healthcare in the perspective of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, in this issue of the Czech Yearbook of Public & Private International Law. 6 See ŠOLC, M. Compulsory Vaccination of Minors in the Czech Republic, published in this issue of the Czech Yearbook of Public & Private International Law. See also ŠOLC, M. Limity zástupného informovaného souhlasu ve zdravotnictví: hledání nejlepšího zájmu v postmoderním světě [The Limits to Surrogate Informed Consent in Health Care: Finding the Best Interests in the PostmodernWorld]. In SEDLÁČEK, M., STŘELEČEK, T. (eds.). Zastoupení. Specifika a kontext. [Representation. Specifics and Context.] Wolters Kluwer, Praha 2021, pp. 83–191. 7 See HOLČAPEK, T. Futile Medical Care: Children, Parents and Courts, in this issue of the Czech Yearbook of Public & Private International Law.

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