Taganrog LRO and Others v. Russia
Nos. 32401/10 and 19 others, 7 June 2022
“162. [T]he State must abstain from interfering with the individual freedom of choice in the sphere of health care, for such interference can only lessen and not enhance the value of life.
165. [T]he refusal of blood transfusion was an expression of free will of a community member exercising her right to personal autonomy.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses of Moscow and Others v. Russia
No. 302/02, 10 June 2010
“136. The freedom to accept or refuse specific medical treatment, or to select an alternative form of treatment, is vital to the principles of self-determination and personal autonomy. A competent adult patient is free to decide, for instance, whether or not to undergo surgery or treatment or, by the same token, to have a blood transfusion.
144. … Furthermore, as the Court has found above, the refusal of blood transfusion was an expression of the free will of the individual community members who exercised their right to personal autonomy in the sphere of health care protected both under the Convention and in Russian law.”
The Supreme Court of Japan
February 29, 2000, 1998 (O) 1081
“(Page 3) When a patient has a clear intention to refuse a medical procedure involving blood transfusion because it is against his or her religious beliefs, the right to make such a decision must be respected as a content of personal rights.