JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS

The blood transfusion issue is still a hot item, even though the Watchtower has practically allowed all 'parts' of the blood individually, just not together!

Doesn't the Bible clearly state to "pour ALL the blood onto the ground and cover it with dust because to Jehovah the life blood belongs"?

So, how can the Watchtower execs allow most of the parts of blood which they euphemistically call "blood fractions" YET forbid "whole blood"?

Isn't it all sacred to Jehovah,or is this a legal ruse to keep from being sued?

Remember thousands of devout obedient Jehovah's Witnesses have DIED for this blood stance.

Answer please,

-tell the truth don't be afraid-Danny Haszard

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=jehovah%27s+witness&btnG=Search WOW just read the headlines as I type!

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/montreal/story.html?id=e2a8aa3e-af52-4381-9d4c-c3fb7d0fe922&k=15147

Witness's refusal of transfusion costs his life, splits his family
Montreal Gazette, Canada -
A young Jehovah's Witness's decision to refuse a blood transfusion - which eventually led to his death - has split his family

How many Jehovah's Witnesses must die while their leadership tinkers with doctrine and continually change the rules as to what "Jehovah" wants? Is he really that bloodthirsty? Many Witnesses STILL feel that taking any part of blood will make them lose their lives at Armageddon, even though the leadership has changed some of the doctrine. Sad.

If God created Eve from Adam's rib, then that was the first time anyone shared blood because when doing any type of bone or organ transplant, some of the blood would be naturally transferred. Additionally, bone marrow contains blood, does it not? No where in the Bible does it say that God broke Adam's rib to drain the blood.

Additionally, why would Jehovah prohibit blood transfusions in the Bible during the time that the Bible was written when modern medicine--at that time--didn't even practice such a thing?

Brenda Lee, "Out of the Cocoon: A Young Woman's Courageous Flight from the Grip of a Religious Cult" www.outofthecocoon.net

Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation

An essay entitled, "Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation," found in Baylor University’s peer reviewed Journal of Church and State’s Autumn 2005 issue, exposes the vulnerability of the Watchtower Society to tort claims because of the religion’s misrepresentations of secular writers.

This cutting edge legal essay critically examines one of the religion’s main publications dedicated to the blood doctrine, How Can Blood Save Your Life?. How Can Blood Save Your Life? dedicates pages to the thoughts of secular writers on the benefits of abstaining from blood. As late as December 2005, the Watchtower Society’s Kingdom Ministry recommended that its followers use How Can Blood Save Your Life to teach their children about the blood doctrine in order that their children will be able to articulate their stance in court. The essay details the misrepresentations in How Can Blood Save Your Life, by analyzing the following quotes against the original author’s (or court’s) words to determine if they are taken out of context to the point of creating a dishonest secular argument that bolsters the Watchtower Society's religious belief.

The complete essay can be read here:
http://www.reexamine.info/images/bloodessay.pdf

The command to abstain from eating blood was one of 650 rules and regulations imposed on the ancient Israelites.
Picking up a stick (for firewood) on the sabbath got a man stoned to death.

Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be modern Christains of which the old testament don't apply.
Jesus said only TWO commandments now (1) Love God (2) Love thy neighbor.
-tell the truth don't be afraid-Danny Haszard

JESSAMINE Q.

There are tons of alternatives to blood transfusions that can keep you alive. Some have died from not getting blood tranfusions, but guess what? Millions have died from getting blood transfusions. AIDS is contracted from blood transfusions because of the horrible cleaning system that the hospitals have when it comes to cleaning the blood. Not just AIDS, but many other deadly viruses have killed and infected people because of blood transfusions. There are several scriptures in the old testament which state to stay away from blood and there is one scripture in the new testament at Acts 15:20. You guys need to read the bible in its entirety in order to get the jist of its meaning. That is what Jehovah's Witnesses do. Blood fractions are a personal decision because we understand that there is no where in the bible that lays out rules as to the blood issue. But most witnesses end up choosing not to accept fractions as well. But you guys who think it is such a big issue should really go to some doctors who like working with witnesses because they don't have with the guilt that just might have put AIDS in your body.

JESSAMINE Q.

I would not have stated what I stated if not for experience, meaning what I have seen others go through. I had a friend who was an hemophiliac who got a blood transfusion. Yes, you are right. WHat he first contracted was HIV which inevitably turned into AIDS and then he died. What is hidden in our country is different from what goes on in other countries (in other countries people die all the time for blood related issues). I am sure that the process of cleaning blood has gotten a lot better in America, but there are still many risk because people who are ignorant or who are callous will continue to donate infected blood. What I don't understand is if there are other alternatives (which there are because many Jehovah's Witnesses and other people who just don't accept blood for a number of reasons live off these alternatives everyday) why doesn't the government start telling people about them. And once again it all comes down to money and greed. These alternatives will cost more time and money to the hospitals so therefore they rather risk destroying someone's life then having to do more work. There are tons of doctors who like to work with witnesses and who agree with witnesses stand on blood because of the dangers they have seen. Personally I would not like to take blood because I just would not feel comfortable with having someone elses blood in me. It seems unnatural and nasty. Its like a kid spitting in a bowl and then you drinking it. Eww... Yes, I would rather die then possibly have to live with the long term effects of having a blood transfusion. This is an issue of free rights. If the government thought we were endangering ourselves and our children by not accepting blood, don't you think they would have done something by now? People die. Whether blood is the issue or not. And if we don't want blood transfusions that is our personal choice. There are alternatives which we choose to take instead of blood which work quite well thank you. How would you like if hospitals came up with a new treatment for something and you were forced to do it just because the majority did it and it cost them less money? You wouldn't like being criticized or jumped on just because you were in the minority would you?

The overall point I am trying to make:

More Jehovah's Witnesses live than die for not taking blood tranfusions. If Witnesses were dropping like flies for this reason, then I am sure the supreme court would have said something, but they have not seen that problem.

If you don't want to take a blood transfusion there are alternatives that your doctor will begrudgingly explain to you. But there are some doctors out there who work well with patients who do not want blood transfusions.

JESSAMINE Q.

There are blood alternatives such as plasma substitutes that come from different plants mostly made up from vitamins and nutrients. Plus during surgery there are different ways of diverting the blood back to the body so that people will not loose too much blood such as dialysis. There is also a heart-lung machine. Blood fractions are something that is a very personal decision matter because the bible does not directly say anything about this. Hemoglobin is a blood fraction which women tend to loose more readily. This is extracted from whole blood cleaned with better care than whole blood and then used to help build up hemoglobin counts. But once again, this is a personal decision.

JESSAMINE Q.

"Blood transfusions are associated with increased risk for development of sepsis in severely burned pediatric patients."
Author(s): Jeschke MG; Chinkes DL; Finnerty CC; Przkora R; Pereira CT; Herndon DN

"Optimal transfusion practice and use of alternatives in trauma is a rapidly expanding and important area of research. Strong clinical evidence derived by future randomized controlled trials in the area of transfusion triggers as well as transfusion alternatives is required to determine their roles in clinical practice."
Title: Can we safely restrict transfusion in trauma patients?
Author(s): McIntyre LA; Hebert PC

Title: Alternatives to blood product transfusion in the critically ill: erythropoietin.
Author(s): Stubbs JR

"Allogeneic red blood cell (RBC) transfusions are associated with multiple disadvantages, such as limited availability, high costs, multiple risks and side effects. In addition, large outcome studies comparing liberal (hemoglobin transfusion trigger range 9-10 g/dL) and restrictive (hemoglobin transfusion trigger range 7-9 g/dL) transfusion regimens still need to be performed for surgical patients. Different transfusion alternatives are known for the pre-, intra- and postoperative period. Autologous blood donation and erythropoietin are efficacious in the preoperative period. Intraoperatively, acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH), cell salvage, antifibrinolytics, specific anesthetic and surgical techniques, coagulation monitoring, acceptance of minimal hemoglobin values and hopefully soon artificial oxygen carriers can reduce allogeneic RBC transfusions. In the postoperative period cell salvage, antifibrinolytics, and accepting minimal hemoglobin values represent alternatives to RBC transfusions. When treating a bleeding patient, the initial administration of crystalloids and colloids to restore and maintain normovolemia is important. RBC transfusions are recommended under the following circumstances: for hemoglobin levels <6 g/dL and for physiologic signs of inadequate oxygenation such as hemodynamic instability, oxygen extraction rate >50% and myocardial ischemia, detectable by new ST-segment depressions >0.1 mV, new ST-segment elevations >0.2 mV or new wall motion abnormalities by transesophageal echocardiography. The aim of this article is to review the efficacy, risk and side effects of RBC transfusions, to discuss transfusion alternatives and to summarize current indications for RBC transfusions. This information will help the physician to judiciously use RBC transfusions when they are indeed indicated."
Title: Risks, benefits, alternatives and indications of allogenic blood Author(s): Madjdpour C; Heindl V; Spahn DR transfusions.

"Perflurocarbon emulsions (PFC) have the capacity of transporting oxygen through the bloodstream and may be safe and effective alternatives to allogeneic blood transfusions during surgical procedures. Perftoran was the PFC used in a randomized clinical trial conducted at Hospital de Especialidades Centro Medico La Raza, Mexico City. The clinical trial took a sample group, n = 30, of patients that were scheduled for elective cardiac valvuloplasty surgery in combination with preoperative acute normovolemic hemodilution and an inspiratory oxygen fraction (FI02) of 1.0. The participants were randomly divided into a Control group (n = 15) and a Perftoran (PFC) group (n = 15). The PFC group had significantly higher intraoperative PaO2 levels and needed less allogeneic red blood cell packs than the Control group. There were no complications or deaths in either group. These results suggest that Perftoran is safe, efficacious, and reduces the need for allogeneic blood and blood derivatives in patients undergoing cardiac surgery"
Title: Use of perftoran emulsion to decrease allogeneic blood transfusion in cardiac surgery: clinical trial.
Author(s): Verdin-Vasquez RC; Zepeda-Perez C; Ferra-Ferrer R; Chavez-Negrete A; Contreras F; Barroso-Aranda J

"Although often life-saving, blood transfusions are associated with significant risk to the patient and escalating costs to the blood system and hospital. Transfusions are often given unnecessarily. Blood conservation represents the use of alternatives to transfusion. The ONTraC program attempts to enhance transfusion practice outside the blood transfusion laboratory, promote blood conservation in surgery patients, and reduce allogeneic red cell use. METHODS: In the first such large scale program, funding was obtained from the Ontario MOHLTC for a Transfusion Coordinator in 23 Ontario hospitals selected based on blood utilization and geography. At specific time periods, detailed anonymized information was collected in a defined number of all consecutive patients admitted for the three designated surgical procedures: knee arthroplasty (N=approximately 1200 at each time point), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA; N=300 at each time) and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery (N=300 at each time point). RESULTS: Considerable inter-institutional variation was observed in the proportion of patients and amount of blood transfused. At the 12 month analysis, most, although not all, hospitals had decreased use of allogeneic blood and there was an overall 24% reduction in blood use in patients undergoing knee surgery, 14% in AAA and 23% in CABG. In addition to reduction in proportion of patients transfused, transfused patients received fewer units of allogeneic blood. Patients who did not receive allogeneic transfusions had significantly lower postoperative infection rates (p<0.05) and length of stay (p<0.0001); multivariate analysis showed that allogeneic transfusion was an independent predictor of increased length of stay. Eighteen-month analysis indicates even greater reduction in allogeneic transfusion. The main measures of blood conservation employed were preoperative autologous donation and education, with recent increasing use of erythropoietin and the cell saver. These measures have been demonstrated to be very effective in avoiding allogeneic transfusion. CONCLUSIONS: The ONTraC have become leaders locally, nationally and internationally in blood conservation. The reduction in allogeneic transfusion associated with the implementation of the ONTraC program represents important savings in costs associated with blood components, hospital stay and work in transfusion laboratories and nursing units, as well as enhancing patient satisfaction and safety."
Title: A provincial program of blood conservation: The Ontario Transfusion Coordinators (ONTraC). Author(s): Freedman J; Luke K; Monga N; Lincoln S; Koen R; Escobar M; Chiavetta J

Transfusion alternatives.
Author(s): Rudnicke C

I GOT THESE SOURCES FROM A TOP MEDICAL JOURNAL ASSOCIATION, USUALLY MORE RELIABLE THAN GOOGLE.COM. ACCORDING TO THIS, THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES. THERE WERE MANY MORE ARTICLES BUT IF I TRIED TO GET ALL OF THEM I WOULD HAVE BEEN HERE ALL DAY. AND MY GUESS AS TO WHY TENS OF THOUSANDS OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES PERISH IS BECAUSE WE ARE IMPERFECT HUMANS; HUMAN TEND TO DO THAT SOMETIMES.

JESSAMINE Q.

I JUST FOUND THIS ARTICLE AND I HAD TO POST IT. APPARENTLY, JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES LIVE THROUGH MAJOR SURGERY AND OTHER THINGS WITHOUT BLOODTRANSFUSION BECAUSE DOCTORS TAKE MORE CARE INTO TREATING THEM. KEEPING THERE UTENSILS CLEAN, MAKING SURE THE PATIENT DOESN'T LOOSE SO MUCH BLOOD DURING SURGERY AND SO ON.... COULD THIS BY WHY SOME DOCTORS DON'T LIKE TO WORK WITH WITNESSES, BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO WORK HARDER? I MEAN THEY ONLY GET PAID 300,000 A YEAR.

TITLE: Objectives of a bloodless surgery program. A comparative study (major surgery vs. minor-medium surgery) in 51 Jehova's Witnesses patients]

Transliterated Title: Obiettivi di un programma di chirurgia senza sangue. Studio comparativo (chirurgia maggiore vs chirurgia minore-media) su 51 pazienti testimoni di Geova.

Author(s): Proposito D; Gramolini R; Corazza V; Mancini B; Gallina S; Montemurro L; Veltri S; Carboni M

DUE TO COPYRIGHT LAWS, I CAN ONLY POST AN ABSTRACT:
AIM: The purpose of this retrospective review of the charts of 51 Jehovah's Witness patients, who underwent surgery without blood transfusions, was to compare two study groups (major surgery vs minor-medium surgery). METHODS: We compared the following variables: age, sex, length of stay, type of surgical operation, use of intraoperative red cell salvaging devices, hemodilution, number of drainages and their stay, postoperative blood loss, complications, need of reoperation and mortality rate. Between medical variables we focused on blood production therapy and nutritional support (administration of iron, folate, erythropoietin and albumin) and blood tests (at the first day of admission; intraoperative; at the first postoperative day; at the discharge). RESULTS: In the two study groups, we detected statistically significant differences in the following variables: total of postoperative blood loss (p < 0.00001), complications rate (p = 0.0122) and in Hgb values (intraoperative: p = 0.0197; at the first postoperative day: p = 0.0028; at the discharge: p = 0.0100). DISCUSSION: The aims of a bloodless surgery program are: 1) minimize blood loss, reducing iatrogenic anemia and intraoperative hemorrhage loss; 2) maximize blood production by administration of erythropoietin, iron and folate; 3) maximize cardiac output by alternatives to blood transfusions, as crystalloids, colloids and blood substitutes; 4) increase oxygen content; 5) decrease metabolic rate. We focused on advantages and disadvantages of the suggested procedures. Most interesting techniques are the normovolemic hemodilution and the intraoperative red cell salvaging devices, indispensable in emergency. CONCLUSIONS: A close team-work between surgeons, anesthesiologists and hematologists is determinant in a reference center that guarantees experience, organization, professionality, respect for the patients' will and, above all, low morbidity and mortality rates, as those reported by our series.

JESSAMINE Q.
MOST OF MY ABSTRACT DIDN'T GO THROUGH HERE IS THE REST:
In the two study groups, we detected statistically significant differences in the following variables: total of postoperative blood loss (p < 0.00001), complications rate (p = 0.0122) and in Hgb values (intraoperative: p = 0.0197; at the first postoperative day: p = 0.0028; at the discharge: p = 0.0100). DISCUSSION: The aims of a bloodless surgery program are: 1) minimize blood loss, reducing iatrogenic anemia and intraoperative hemorrhage loss; 2) maximize blood production by administration of erythropoietin, iron and folate; 3) maximize cardiac output by alternatives to blood transfusions, as crystalloids, colloids and blood substitutes; 4) increase oxygen content; 5) decrease metabolic rate. We focused on advantages and disadvantages of the suggested procedures. Most interesting techniques are the normovolemic hemodilution and the intraoperative red cell salvaging devices, indispensable in emergency. CONCLUSIONS: A close team-work between surgeons, anesthesiologists and hematologists is determinant in a reference center that guarantees experience, organization, professionality, respect for the patients' will and, above all, low morbidity and mortality rates, as those reported by our series.

JESSAMINE Q.
complications rate (p = 0.0122) and in Hgb values (intraoperative: p = 0.0197; at the first postoperative day: p = 0.0028; at the discharge: p = 0.0100). DISCUSSION: The aims of a bloodless surgery program are: 1) minimize blood loss, reducing iatrogenic anemia and intraoperative hemorrhage loss; 2) maximize blood production by administration of erythropoietin, iron and folate; 3) maximize cardiac output by alternatives to blood transfusions, as crystalloids, colloids and blood substitutes; 4) increase oxygen content; 5) decrease metabolic rate. We focused on advantages and disadvantages of the suggested procedures. Most interesting techniques are the normovolemic hemodilution and the intraoperative red cell salvaging devices, indispensable in emergency. CONCLUSIONS: A close team-work between surgeons, anesthesiologists and hematologists is determinant in a reference center that guarantees experience, organization, professionality, respect for the patients' will and, above all, low morbidity and mortality rates, as those reported by our series.

JESSAMINE Q.

Many people say the bible contradicts itself but never give proof as to how it contradicts itself. Please give some examples.....

EVERYTHING DANNY HASZARD POST ABOUT JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BLOOD TRANSFUSION BAN BEING A SCAM IS THE TRUTH

{they never thought that 'this system' would carry on into 2007 it was all suppose to be over 50 years ago}

THE WATCHTOWER CULT ONLY CARES ABOUT NOT BEING $UED THEY CARE LESS ABOUT LIFE.

Religious cults have maintained a strict tradition over the years and unfortunately for them this tradition kills people in the name of God. Ignorance is not a bless as a few might say. We should fight for our right to live, because if you do not fight it is like suicide and that is a sin ***

*** edited by BurningExample on 1/08/08

To be honest, in many parts of this i do agree on points made. I personally have gone through a really dramatic life threatening kind of surgery and i didnt have a blood transfusion.I built up my own blood level with and EPO shot that i got for 5days straight and i was outta the place in a week instead of 2 and im almost as healthy as i was before, just a bit weaker. I guess my point is that although there have been deaths, there are some really good results of it.....
Im not a jw or anything but i do know of the bad side effects of taking blood so getting a transfusion is my second option....