How many JWs die for want of a blood transfusion?

Gill

Does anyone have a rough or even accurate idea of how many JWs lose their lives each year due to the No Blood Doctrine?

I suppose it's possible the wts might keep such records Gill, and they are certailnly the only organisation who would have those kind of stats, but I very much doubt they'd make such information available to the public. They get a bad enough press about thier blood policy as it is, so I doubt they'd want anyone to know exactly how many people have sacrificed their lives because of their bs.

blondie

If anyone might have that info, it would be the people at this site:

www.ajwrb.org

Gill

Thanks Blondie and dedpoet!!

Blondie - I shall be cheking that site.

Dedpoet - I was very interested because I was hearing from my sister that my mother had been ranting about the death of the 44 year old JW lady saying that she had not died because of lack of blood. I was and am fascinated why, when the policy DOES cause death of some of its followers, any JW would be angry about publicity that one of their own's death may well have been contributed to by lack of blood!

I suspect, JWs still believe that they are more likely to survive anything happening if they don't accept blood transfusions. Therefore, if one of them dies they cannot accept it. They begin to look for a 'fault' in the surgeon or surgery.

dedpoet

Thanks blondie,

There is quite a lot of information on the site, but I suspect this statement means that accurate figures of the number of deaths worldwide aren't available, unless the wts has them, and I doubt they'd tell.

THE NAMES listed in this Memorial constitute only a small sampling of the victims who should be included, according to published statistics. Relatively few cases come to the attention of the news media because a police accident report was involved or because doctors asked courts to intervene. When adult JWs are admitted privately to hospitals and sign legal release papers, their deaths due to refusing blood are generally recorded only in confidential patient files. Published obituaries usually omit such details. Names are listed here if reported in the public news media or if submitted by relatives, friends, or other knowledgeable individuals who vouch for the information.

The site is a good resource though, and I have saved it to my favourites, so thankyou for that. The no blood rule was one thing I always had reservations about as a jw, though I carried the card, on reflection one of the more dangerous things I did as a jw. With all the so - called relaxation of certain aspects of it, it seems totally chaotic now. I'm happy it doesn't concern me any more.

dedpoet

blondie

To be more specific, I would check some of the people who are listed as contacts on that board. The info may not be posted per se on the website. If anyone would know, I would think they would know where to look.

I noticed that one of their members, Sam Beli, was posting recently on JWD.

Blondie

Gill

This is one of those topics that does make my blood boil!

The last child I had, I had to have an emergency caesarean section though under epidural anaesthesia. During the surgery I lost 2.5 litres of blood. For four days I was in a High Dependency Unit unable to look after myself, never mind my baby. Then I spent another week in hospital struggling to catch my breath and basically just survive. I hope this is not to gruesome for some of you, but after childbirth a woman continues to lose some blood from the womb for a couple of weeks. I bled pink water. I remember the doctor saying, 'that is your blood now. You've barely got any going round your veins. You're just water and a bit of whatever blood you're body is franticlly trying to make.' Doctors pleaded with me to give in to a transfusion and I just looked blankly at them. I was not afraid to die. I was afraid of Shunning and what disease I might catch from a blood transfusion. How stupid can someone be? I would have left my husband with five very young children to look after if I hadn't begun to recover.

So, when I read the case of the latest UK victim of this policy, I wonder why she refused her transfusion. To me, her bringing up the NO BLOOD policy just before her surgery strikes me as panic and fear. Fear of disease from blood because of its misrepresentation by the WTBTS.

dedpoet

I was not afraid to die. I was afraid of Shunning and what disease I might catch from a blood transfusion.

Gill that more or less sums up why the wts are able to enforce their blood policy, like most of their policies, so effectively. They make their members so aware of the price of breaking a rule that in some cases they would rather die than do so. If you go to the link blondie provided, make sure you check the victims memorial page, it is truly sickening to read, but worthwhile.

If you have any success in finding out actual numbers of jws who have sacrificed their lives because of the wts blood rule, please let me know, it's the kind of information I would certainly put on my website.

dedpoet

Gill

Dedpoet - I have now asked awjrb if they have any figures, but I suspect that it would be more of a guess. I can think of a few that I know around here that have died for this policy and I suspect if you multiplied it by the number of congregations there are world wide and then the number of years that this policy has existed it could be a massive number.

Also, the ban on immunoglobins and organ transplants in the past could vastly inflate the figure furthur.

dedpoet

Gill, I would think that any figures obtained, apart from those the wts may or may not have, would be guesswork, but they would certainly be very high. We have given this matter some thought, and can think of 4, possibly 5, around here who dies because of the no blood rule. I wouldn't be surprised if the worldwide figure runs into hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions.

When you think about it, wts policy has been killing people with their stupid ideas since Rutherfords day. They used to be anti - vaccination, and I'd bet few or no jws had vaccinations then and died because of it. They started publishing anti - vaccination propoganda in the 1920's, and didn't change it until 1952. The information on that is here:

http://www.quotes-watchtower.co.uk/vaccination.html

Personally, I am embarassed to think that I was ever part of an organisation that imposed such evil, death - dealing policies on it's membership.

dedpoet

How many JWs die for want of a blood transfusion?

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