CW: Child Abuse, Murder, & Death
In August, 26-year-old Isaac Valdez suffered a seizure while visiting his local library in Waxahachie, Texas. He convulsed, struck his head and lost consciousness. What began as a medical emergency soon became something much more complicated: a question about faith, treatment and how far a person’s right to choose extends when that choice could cost them their life.
Isaac was taken to a local hospital where doctors found that he had suffered a brain hemorrhage. As a Jehovah’s Witness, Isaac carried a “No Blood” card indicating that he would not accept treatment involving blood transfusions because of his religious beliefs. A procedure that could have drained fluid from his brain did not happen because of his beliefs.
For a while, his family was hopeful. Isaac regained consciousness and began talking again. He was able to confirm that he still did not want blood. But the improvement did not last. He slipped into a coma, and his condition deteriorated rapidly.
A neurosurgeon told Isaac’s family that an emergency operation requiring a blood transfusion was the only way to save his life. His family chose to honor the decision Isaac had already made and declined the procedure. He died on August 26, after doctors withdrew life support.
Weeks later, the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses announced a major change. Most medical procedures involving donated blood would now be left to individual conscience, although the restriction on whole blood remained. For Isaac’s family, the timing has been bittersweet. His twin brother, Jacob, who had left the religion, publicly questioned why the change did not come sooner.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have said the new guidance reflects the application of biblical principles to modern medicine and an effort not to go beyond what scripture requires. But there is no way around the timing. For Isaac, the change came too late.
There is something especially difficult about the place where faith and medicine meet. Doctors may understand which treatment gives someone the best chance of surviving, but a person’s beliefs do not disappear the moment they become a patient. Those beliefs have shaped their life long before they ever entered a hospital.
Isaac was able to make the choice for himself. He regained consciousness and confirmed that he did not want blood, even knowing how serious his condition was. His family respected that decision. They also had to live with what came after it.
The question becomes more complicated when the consequences do not belong to one person. In 2015, Sydney, Australia, a 28-year-old pregnant woman who was a Jehovah’s Witness in refused blood transfusions after being diagnosed with leukemia. Her baby died. Tragically, the woman also died after suffering a stroke and multi-organ failure.
It becomes even more troubling when the person at risk is a child. In Wisconsin, Dale and Leilani Neumann relied on prayer rather than medical treatment when their 11-year-old daughter, Kara, became gravely ill. Unlike Isaac, Kara was not an adult deciding what she was willing to risk for her faith. That decision was being made for her.
Kara died in 2008 from diabetic ketoacidosis caused by untreated diabetes. Her parents were later convicted of second-degree reckless homicide, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld those convictions in 2013. Although state law included a provision relating to treatment through prayer, the court concluded that it did not negate a parent’s legal duty to provide medical care in a second-degree reckless homicide prosecution.
The difference between these stories matters. Isaac could tell his doctors and his family what he wanted. The woman in Sydney was making a decision about her own medical treatment, though her pregnancy meant the consequences impacted her unborn baby. Kara was 11. She never had the same opportunity to decide for herself.
Religious freedom means allowing people to make choices that others may find frightening or impossible to understand. Faith is deeply personal. It can shape how someone understands suffering, medicine, and death. Respecting that freedom sometimes means respecting decisions that another person would never make for themselves.
But things change when someone else has to live, or die, with the consequences of those beliefs. That is where the idea of personal choice becomes much more complicated.
Behind the arguments about religious freedom and autonomy are people whose lives are forever changed. There are families who leave hospitals without someone they love. There are siblings who have to figure out how to go on without a brother or sister beside them. There are decisions made in desperate moments that cannot be reversed.
The line between respecting faith and preserving life is one fraught with uncertainty. Faith may help people process what happens afterward. Sadly, it cannot make the loss disappear. It cannot fill the empty place someone leaves behind, and it cannot turn back time when a family is left wondering what might have happened if something had been different.
Isaac was able to say no. The woman in Sydney was an adult. Kara was 11, and someone else made the decision for her. That difference is critical when a life depends on it.
There is no answer that makes any of these stories less difficult to hear. There is only the question left behind: whose faith should shape a decision when another person’s life hangs in the balance, and what happens when the person with the most to lose never had the chance to choose?
Sources:
Corderoy, Amy. “Pregnant Jehovah’s Witness’ Decision to Refuse Treatment ‘Harrowing’ for Hospital Staff After Mother and Baby Die.” The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Apr. 2015, https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/pregnant-jehovahs-witness-decision-to-refuse-treatment-harrowing-for-hospital-staff-after-mother-and-baby-die-20150406-1mf570.html.
Guzder, Deena. “When Parents Call God Instead of the Doctor.” TIME, 5 Feb. 2009, https://time.com/archive/6914048/when-parents-call-god-instead-of-the-doctor/.
Maqbool, Aleem. “Jehovah’s Witness Rules on Blood Transfusions Have Changed, but It’s Too Late for My Brother.” BBC News, 7 Nov. 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx5ynly549njo.