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Article: My conscience, your money. (using expensive therapy to cure Jehova's Witness without blood transfusion)(Case Study)
- Article from:
- The Hastings Center Report
- Article date:
- September 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Hastings Center. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In refusing blood this Jehovah's Witness asserted a right against interference. This is a "negative" right because it does not create any correlative duty for nonbelievers to provide resources. The negative right to be left alone contrasts with the "positive" right to requisite resources. No ordinary managed care system or publicly funded health care program has an obligation to pay for costly medical interventions that result from religious belief systems. Instead, those with expensive beliefs should take financial responsibility for them, forming their separate managed care organizations. The Ohio Amish, for example, who incidentally do not hold to medical vitalism, ...