Análisis constitucional del derecho a la salud, frente al derecho a la libertad de religión o creencias en el caso de hemotransfusión en pacientes Testigos de Jehová

Abstract

Hemotransfusion in Jehovah's Witness patients has generated tensions between the right to health and the right to freedom of religion or belief. The controversy appears when a patient opposes the practice of hemotransfusion, justifying his refusal in precepts of religious order; it is there, where questions are elaborated regarding the prevalence of one or the other right.

Ecuador is a constitutional state of rights and justice, social, democratic, sovereign, independent, unitary, intercultural, plurinational and secular, which recognizes freedom of religion or belief as a right of freedom. Jehovah's Witnesses are the only religious group that opposes hemotransfusion. However, their beliefs, despite deserving respect and protection by the State, collide with another equally protected and fundamental right.

The present research focused on the constitutional analysis of hemotransfusion in Jehovah's Witnesses, based on the existence of a collision between the right to health and the right to freedom of religion or belief, from a qualitative approach using the systematic method.

This research has obtained results that show the existence of a legal problem derived from religious practices that limit the right to provide adequate medical care, which makes judicial intervention essential in order to elucidate a solution that enables the prevalence between rights of similar weight, through a weighing assessment.