[Perioperative bleeding in a Jehovah's Witness]. / Perioperative Blutung bei einem Zeugen Jehovas.

Perioperative bleeding in Jehovah's Witnesses leaves physicians with difficult medical and ethical decisions. We report the case of a 45-year-old man, who refused to accept red blood cell concentrates by a patient directive. A postoperative bleeding occurred after removal of a transplanted kidney. Despite critically low hemoglobin (3.1 g/dl) and hematocrit (9.5%) levels, the case was managed without red blood cell transfusions. The patient showed an amazingly quick recovery and was discharged from hospital after 24 days without any sequelae.