Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty in Jehovah’s Witnesses at a Public Hospital: Practical Recommendations for a Low-Resource Setting

Revision total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a major reconstructive procedure traditionally associated with significant blood loss. Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) do not accept blood or blood product transfusions because of their religious beliefs. When confronted with a JW patient requiring a complex arthroplasty procedure, surgeons face moral and ethical questions and may be reluctant to perform surgery. A successful outcome depends on several factors including surgical and anesthetic expertise, a range of revision implants, and a multimodal blood management protocol. While these resources are readily available in a developed country, in many of the developing Caribbean islands, the healthcare system is underfunded and under-resourced.

Here, we describe our experience performing a revision THA on a JW patient in the Caribbean. Through this case report, we aim to illustrate our approach to blood management by exploring the fundamental elements that were employed in a low-resource setting. We believe that the extrapolation of these crucial principles to the broader category of primary arthroplasty in the general population can be used to reduce the rate of blood transfusion, increase access to surgery, and improve outcomes.