WTS Letter to Congregations re. HLC (page 6)

Atlantis

BluesBrother:

I haven't seen a scan of the new card as of yet, so if you can scan it for us I for one would appreciate it!

Thanks Blues!

garybuss

The 1995 letter limits the HLC members activities to only issues related to blood medical treatment. I might have missed it, but it appears to me that the new Jan 3, 2006 letter does not do that.

AK - Jeff

I think I might send a copy to a few former elder friends - with a little post it note saying I thought they might like to see an advance copy.

I wonder if they will stay awake all night wondering how an evil apostate was allowed access to such private holy material.

Jeff

blondie

Pre-storage of One's Own Blood--Autologous (for Yours Chelbie)

*** w00 10/15 pp. 30-31 Questions From Readers ***

Occasionally, a doctor will urge a patient to deposit his own blood weeks before surgery (preoperative autologous blood donation, or PAD) so that if the need arises, he could transfuse the patient with his own stored blood. However, such collecting, storing, and transfusing of blood directly contradicts what is said in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Blood is not to be stored; it is to be poured out—returned to God, as it were. Granted, the Mosaic Law is not in force now. Nevertheless, Jehovah’s Witnesses respect the principles God included in it, and they are determined to ‘abstain from blood.’ Hence, we do not donate blood, nor do we store for transfusion our blood that should be ‘poured out.’ That practice conflicts with God’s law.

blondie

I wonder how that is applied to this procedure:

http://noblood.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-1989.html BLOOD CONSERVATION AND CARDIAC SURGERY WITH THE NOVEL USE OF THE HEMOBAG® DEVICE IN TWO JEHOVAH'S WITNESS PATIENTS
Englewood Hospital Medical Center, Englewood NJ. USA

The Hemobag® Blood Salvage Device has been successfully incorporated into the multi-modality approach to blood conservation seen at one of the top blood conservation cardiac programs in the world at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, New Jersey. Recently the technique of hemoconcentrating the residual blood from the extracorporeal circuit with use of the Hemobag system was successfully performed on two consecutive patients who are of the Jehovah's Witness faith. This technique had only been described for use in non-Jehovah's Witness patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass. Now the techniques can be incorporated into this patient population successfully without interrupting the continuity of the blood with the patient. By using this technique, autologous whole blood with all of its coagulation components is preserved for re-infusion back to the patient as compared to the alternative traditional red cell salvage devices (which retrieves washed RBC’s, yet discards viable plasma proteins and other cellular content essential for optimal hemostasis) that many institutions perform at the end of the case.

Technique:

IV tubing with a standard in-line blood filter is connected from the infusion port at the bottom of the Hemobag® to the patient sterilely from the surgical field before filling the Hemobag with the residual contents of the extracorporeal circuit. This provides a continuous uninterrupted fluid pathway to the patient during the hemoconcentrating process. Up to as much as 2 liters of autologous whole blood can be ultrafiltrated down and concentrated into an approximate end-volume of 750mls or more of the patients own whole blood with all of the clotting factors and plasma proteins still preserved.

David Moskowitz MD Chief of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia reports:

"We are impressed with this technology of autologous whole blood conservation for our cardiac surgery patients, and the fact that we can now incorporate its use with our Jehovah's Witness patients at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center is an added advantage. The Hemobag® process is done in approximately 10 minutes where it took over 4 hours to accomplish the same goals with unfiltered autologous whole blood from the extracorporeal circuit and diuretics. There is no hemodynamic instability encountered during the process, and no need to replace the potassium lost through diuresis post operatively. The hemoconcentrating occurs separately from the extracorporeal circuit. Therefore, the surgeons can continue with the surgery while the extracorporeal circuit remains primed and ready for emergent reinstitution of cardiopulmonary bypass if necessary.

I see this technology as another great tool in improving our blood conservation techniques perioperatively. Again, with this technique, there is no discarding of any precious and vital autologous whole blood components of our patients when they need it the most - the first few hours after surgery”.

For further information on the Hemobag® technology visit www.mybloodfirst.com or contact:

David Moskowitz, MD
Director of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia
Department of Anesthesiology
Englewood Hospital and Medical Center

[email protected]

ozziepost

I wonder if they will stay awake all night wondering how an evil apostate was allowed access to such private holy material.
Jeff

"holy material"? - as in wholly material? wholly what??

Just kiddin' Jeff.

rebel8

A patient's privacy in a hospitol or doctors office is protected by laws and a minister would need permission from the patient to visit. The hospitol could not disclose any information about the patient or even if the patient is there under this law.

Actually a patient needs only be informed about the facility directory, as is usually done by the Notice of Privacy Practices (a paper handed to the patient upon admission). Patients do not need to sign a specific consent for clergy or family/friends to know about their presence in the facility unless there is a state law that specifically requires it. See HIPAA FAQ

What this means is that all a hospital must do is to give you a Notice of Privacy Practices that contains info about their directory. Patients must specifically request to opt out of or restrict use of info in the directory if they do not want that info shared. Otherwise it is released. (Not trying to be nitpicky, just thought some ex-jws here may need to recognize this distinction as most people do not.) If a person does not sign forms to opt out, his presence in the facility is released, as is his religion of record, his general medical condition, and his location within the facility. (This is all if there is no law in your state prohibiting these actions.) A parishoner or clergy is easily able to find out a patient's room # and then is free to walk to the room to visit, all without specific permission from the patient.

When HIPAA was pending, there was vague info about it and many providers overinterpreted its requirements. Healthcare regulatory professionals will be working to correct the misunderstandings that ensued for years to come.

Question: Are hospitals able to inform the clergy about parishoners in the hospital?

Answer: Yes, the HIPAA Privacy Rule allows this communication to occur, as long as the patient has been informed of this use and disclosure, and does not object. The Privacy Rule provides that a hospital or other covered health care provider may maintain in a directory the following information about that individual: the individual’s name; location in the facility; health condition expressed in general terms; and religious affiliation. The facility may disclose this directory information to members of the clergy. Thus, for example, a hospital may disclose the names of Methodist patients to a Methodist minister unless a patient has restricted such disclosure. Directory information, except for religious affiliation, may be disclosed only to other persons who ask for the individual by name. When, due to emergency circumstances or incapacity, the patient has not been provided an opportunity to agree or object to being included in the facility’s directory, these disclosures may still occur, if such disclosure is consistent with any known prior expressed preference of the individual and the disclosure is in the individual’s best interest as determined in the professional judgment of the provider. See 45 CFR 164.510(a).