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Casebook Read Credits
Torts Fall Reading group version #3
Resource 2 . 2 . 2
7 minutes

Werth v. Taylor

Samantha Bates,
Jonathan Zittrain

Should health care professionals be allowed to administer life-saving, emergency treatment when there is a possibility that the patient would have refused? Plaintiff, a Jehovah’s Witness, underwent severe bleeding following the birth of her twins. Despite knowing that plaintiff’s religious beliefs prohibited blood transfusions, defendant ordered a blood transfusion to avoid her death. Consent could not be obtained at the time from the plaintiff because she was under general anesthesia and her condition was rapidly deteriorating.

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