# What religions/philosophies have their practitioners refuse medical treatment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2000, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religions-philosophies-have-their-practitioners-refuse-medical-treatment/9268 "2000-03-22T17:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religions-philosophies-have-their-practitioners-refuse-medical-treatment/9268/21 "2000-03-24T21:08:00Z")
I suppose you’re right David. Any of you silly Christian Scientists or Jehovah’s Witnesses who want to argue this may join me there if you wish. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religions-philosophies-have-their-practitioners-refuse-medical-treatment/9268/22 "2000-03-26T00:36:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by dougie\_monty: > **The _Bible_ has never had to be updated… 🙂** I say that everything that was written after the Pentateuch is an update. 😉 * * * Feel free to correct me at any time. But don’t be surprised if I try to correct you. ---
**Author:** ![\_WAR\_Firesong\_TCA\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e495f1/32.png) [@\_WAR\_Firesong\_TCA\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_WAR_Firesong_TCA_1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2000, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religions-philosophies-have-their-practitioners-refuse-medical-treatment/9268/23 "2000-03-26T05:58:00Z")
Yo, I once heard that a JW refused to have her OWN blood pumped back into her body. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religions-philosophies-have-their-practitioners-refuse-medical-treatment/9268/24 "2000-03-27T19:42:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Yo, I once heard that a JW refused to have her OWN blood pumped back into her body. Yup. Blood is blood. Makes no difference. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religions-philosophies-have-their-practitioners-refuse-medical-treatment/9268/25 "2000-03-27T19:53:00Z")
> [@](#): > > quote: > > ``` > "is the law of God," > > ``` > > Whether your god is real or imagined, this country simply does not operate under those laws. > Refusing medical treatment for your child is the same thing as allowing him to die in an unventilated car without helping him. “If God’s will was for him to live, the car wouldn’t have doors!” Don’t you think your god gave doctors the tools they have for a reason? If god REALLY meant for you to die, why wouldn’t he just give you a totally incurable disease? Refusing a blood transfusion is not the law of god. It’s negligent homicide. Sorry to turn this into a debate, but there’s no reason to let a child die when his life could easily be saved. To hear someone advocate this makes my jaw drop. A few points here: I have made it clear in this thread that there are some things of more value than one’s life–granted these are few.–Matthew 10:39. The same medical profession that has the “tools” for transfusions these days had the “tools” in the eighteenth century for bloodletting–that’s why I mentioned George Washington and Lord Byron. (The bloodletting killed both of them.) Acts 5:29: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.” Compare this with the “free-exercise-of-religion” clause in the First Amendment. Notwithstanding the laws of the Roman Empire in the first century, the Christians understood that they had a commission from God to spread the Gospel, although obviously the imperial body of law opposed that. Similarly, today, the body of American law should not be allowed to make observance of the law of God “conditional” or “convenient.” Don’t you see it that way? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-religions-philosophies-have-their-practitioners-refuse-medical-treatment/9268.md?page=1)