[Problems in the refusal of blood transfusion]

Three examples of refusal of blood transfusion by patients (Jehovah's witnesses) are presented to discuss the medicolegal and ethical problems anaesthetists may be faced with in daily clinical routine. For many cases deliberate hypotension is recommended. The primary aim has to be to comply with the patient's wish, but in case of acute and extraordinary bloodloss, there might develop a conflict from an ethical as well as a legal view between the patient's desire and the medical opinion.