Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation ruled in favor of one of Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding the right to patient autonomy. On December 23, 2020, the Supreme Court affirmed that all patients have the right to decide their medical care, including the right to choose effective therapy that does not conflict with their religious conscience.

The case refers to a tragic incident in 2005, when doctors violated the rights of one of our sisters. Before surgery, she explicitly refused blood transfusions both verbally and through an Advance Medical Directive card. But the doctors ignored her wishes and imposed multiple blood transfusions.

The Court acknowledged that refusing a blood transfusion “is not a matter of mere self-determination in the context of healthcare, but a form of actual conscientious objection, rooted in religious motives.” It defined this freedom as an “inviolable right, which the Constitution protects ‘to the utmost degree.’”

This decision is the latest of ten consecutive victories before Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation involving Jehovah’s Witnesses since 2015. In each case, the Court reaffirmed important aspects of our religious freedom. The cases have addressed the following topics:

• Refusal of blood transfusions: Jehovah’s Witnesses want the best medical care available, and they accept the vast majority of medical treatments. The courts have affirmed that Witness patients are free to choose medical treatments that are in harmony with their Bible-trained conscience. Doctors must respect a patient’s decision to refuse a blood transfusion. It is a legal expression of a patient’s religious freedom.

• Child custody: Witness parents have the same right as non-Witness parents to share religious teachings with their children.

• Disfellowshipping: Jehovah’s Witnesses do not discriminate against disfellowshipped individuals. Instead, Witnesses are free to decline association with those expelled from their congregations as an expression of religious freedom that must be respected.

• Taxes: Jehovah’s Witnesses pay their taxes and enjoy the same rights and exemptions as all other religions in Italy regarding the taxation of places of worship.

We are encouraged when secular authorities make decisions that reestablish the rights of Jehovah’s people to worship freely.—Proverbs 21:1.