Jehovah’s Witnesses frequently carry a signed and witnessed Advance Decision Document listing the blood products and autologous procedures that are, or are not, acceptable to them. "Tom Blackwell, "Without fanfare, Jehovah's Witnesses quietly soften position on blood transfusions", "Outcome of Patients Who Refuse Transfusion After Cardiac Surgery", "Medical Risk Management: Preventive Legal Strategies for Health Care Providers", http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/Books/aspen/Aspen.html, "Exceptions to Informed Consent in Emergency Medicine", "Guidelines for managing conscientious objection to blood transfusion", "Certificate of Recognition issued by Society for the Advancement of Blood Management", H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, "Responses by pregnant Jehovah's Witnesses on health care proxies", "Honoring Jehovah's Witnesses' advance directives in emergencies: a response to Drs. The researchers stated, "The members of this congregation are adamant in their refusal to accept all blood products... Not one of the members stated they would receive a blood transfusion even if their refusal meant death, Almost one third of the respondents had personally refused blood transfusions". "[34], Bloodless medical and surgical techniques have limitations, and surgeons say the use of various allogeneic blood products and pre-operative autologous blood transfusion are appropriate standards of care for certain patient presentations. "[77], In September 1945, representatives of the Watch Tower Society in the Netherlands commented on blood transfusion in the Dutch edition of Consolation. Members of the group who voluntarily accept a transfusion and are not deemed repentant are regarded as having disassociated themselves from the group by abandoning its doctrines[10][11][12] and are subsequently shunned by members of the organization. Lee Elder, "Why some Jehovah's Witnesses accept blood and conscientiously reject official Watchtower Society blood policy". The CDC estimates that 5 million Americans receive blood transfusions every year. [105][117] He claims Watch Tower Society publications often discuss the risk of death as a result of refusing blood transfusions, but give little consideration to the prolonged suffering and disability, producing an added burden on family and society, that can result from refusal. Recombinant products, such as erythropoiesis stimulating agents (e.g. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that it is not possible to abstain from blood and accept blood transfusions. [91] In 1990, a brochure entitled How Can Blood Save Your Life? In a later article, members were reminded that Jehovah's Witnesses do not donate blood or store their own blood prior to surgery. Cowan wrote that "the reader is left with the impression that the Watchtower Society knowingly presides over a substantial number of preventable deaths each year. Young adults also showed a willingness to accept blood transfusions. Nearly all Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse transfusions of whole blood (including preoperative autologous donation) and the primary blood components – red cells, platelets, white cells and unfractionated plasma. [131] Jehovah's Witnesses' view of meat and blood is different from that of kosher Jewish adherents, who go to great lengths to remove minor traces of blood. "[87], In 1964, Jehovah's Witnesses were prohibited from obtaining transfusions for pets, from using fertilizer containing blood, and were even advised (if their conscience troubled them) to write to dog food manufacturers to verify that their products were blood-free. [120], Witnesses respond that the real issue is not of the fluid per se, but of respect and obedience to God. [82] Watch Tower publications warned that accepting a blood transfusion could prevent Witnesses from living eternally in God's new world, the hope held by members: "It may result in the immediate and very temporary prolongation of life, but that at the cost of eternal life for a dedicated Christian. [132][133], Jehovah's Witnesses doctrinal position about use of blood. Adherents do not accept blood products, regardless of the possibility of death. And ... organ transplants are now permitted by the WTS. An unusual court case involving a Witness and a blood transfusion occurred in Pomona, CA. [33] A 2012 study in JAMA Internal Medicine concluded that "Witnesses do not appear to be at increased risk for surgical complications or long-term mortality when comparisons are properly made by transfusion status. "[67], Ambivalence and rejection of the blood doctrine dates back to at least the 1940s. [79], In 1945, the application of the doctrine on blood was expanded to prohibit blood transfusions of whole blood, whether allogeneic or autologous. "Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions and the Tort of Misrepresentation", Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses § Blood, "Jehovah's Witnesses: Official Statement to the Media on Blood Transfusions", "More doctors honor religious objections to blood transfusions", "Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses: Part 3. Elders were instructed to revert to the older 1999 edition of the medical directives and identity cards.[95]. Larry J. Findley and Paul M. Redstone to evaluate individual belief in respect to blood among Jehovah's Witnesses. In all cases, it is important to document what blood products can or cannot be used. [70][71] Watch Tower publications during the presidency of Joseph Franklin Rutherford commended the commercial and emergency uses of blood. After considering that material, quite a number of readers wrote letters of appreciation; they admitted that they had had those faults, but they had been moved to repent and change.". [42], In 1988, the Watch Tower Society formed Hospital Information Services, a department to help locate doctors or surgical teams who are willing to perform medical procedures on Witnesses without blood transfusions. Jehovah's Witnesses come under tremendous criticism for applying their stand on There is usually no objection to intraoperative cell salvage (ICS), apheresis, haemodialysis, cardiac bypass or normovolaemic haemodilution providing the equipment is primed with non-blood fluids. Platform provided by Target Information Systems Ltd. He cites other authors[106] who support his view that the direction at Acts 15 to abstain from blood was intended not as an everlasting covenant but a means of maintaining a peaceful relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians. [85] In November of the same year, the doctrine was modified to allow individual members to decide whether they could conscientiously accept fractions used from blood for purposes such as vaccination. He says the Society adopted such a policy in 1983 regarding details of sexual activity between married couples. It noted: "On the contrary, it appears that many Jehovah's Witnesses have made a deliberate choice to refuse blood transfusions in advance, free from time constraints of an emergency situation." [111][112][113], Watch Tower spokesman Donald T. Ridley says neither elders nor HLC members are instructed or encouraged to probe into the health care decisions of Witness patients and do not involve themselves in patient hospitalisations unless patients request their assistance. [49], Annually since 2004, Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States have been informed that "with your consent, the law allows for the elders to learn of your admission [to hospital] and provide spiritual encouragement",[51] but that "elders serving on a Patient Visitation Group [could] have access to your name" only if patients made their wishes known according to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This case echoes the 2017 movie, The Children Act, which is based on an Ian McEwan book. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Blood Transfusion and the legal and Ethical Dilemma – Agboola Peter. [50] It disseminates information about treatment options to local Hospital Liaison Committees, and to doctors and hospitals. Hence, blood transfusion is a form of cellular organ transplantation. However, for this freedom to be meaningful, patients must have the right to make choices that accord with their own views and values, regardless of how irrational, unwise or imprudent such choices may appear to others. [57] Another peer-reviewed study examining medical records indicated a similar percentage of Jehovah's Witnesses willing to accept blood transfusions for their children. [105] He says the Society offers no biblical explanation for differentiating between prohibited treatments and those considered a "matter of conscience", explaining the distinction is based entirely on arbitrary decisions of the Governing Body, to which Witnesses must adhere strictly on the premise of them being Bible-based "truth". Print; Summary. Jehovah's witness nurse and blood transfusion. They have consistently refused donor blood ever since transfusions began to be widely used in civilian medical practice in the 1940s, and this scriptural position has not changed. 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