The Refusal of Blood Transfusion because of Religious Reasons

Abstract

The presented work deals with the legal issue of the refusal of blood transfusion due to religious reasons. The proposed topic, that concerns freedom of religion and belief, is treated both by the doctrine and on the jurisprudence under various opinions and approaches, which enriches the study and opinion about the pursued topic. The issue refers mainly to the supposed existence of collision of fundamental rights, specially the right to life and the right to liberty, which encompasses the freedom of belief, religion and worship. Besides that, in this present work, due to the fact that it was developed during the period of studies at the University of Minho in Portugal (Universidade do Milnho – Portugal), a comparative study of law between the way this issue is treated in Brazil and Portugal is performed. Keywords: refusal of blood transfusion; collision of fundamental rights; right to life; right to freedom; Brazil; Portugal.