Here is some background information about HLCs:
We were at Brooklyn Bethel when the HLC policy went into effect in the United States, if memory serves us correctly, sometime in the mid to late1980s. Dr. Jack Carleton, a personal friend and one of the doctors at Watchtower Farms, told us at the time that the idea of hospital liaison committees came from Canada, and Eugene Rosam (now deceased), at the Canadian Branch, was instrumental in getting it started there. It was so successful that Rosam was brought to Brooklyn where he as overseer set up Hospital Information Services.
Rosam took a very aggressive approach in Canada where he and other involved branch officials put fear in the medical establishment's heart by threatening lawsuits if JW's wishes were overruled in the transfusion matter. (Jack Carleton commented on this approach when he said something like, "We are now going to put the fear of God and the loss of money in the minds of doctors. We've been too passive in the past about blood, but no more." Rosam also found out how successful they were in avoiding confrontation if a well-trained, professional type JW took the initiative as the Society's representative and went to hospital administrators, etc., and discussed the Witnesses' viewpoint. That's how the HLC was born. This approach was so successful then that an impressed GB wanted to see the program implemented in the U.S. and eventually around the world, which Rosam successfully did. We don't know what happened during the mid-90s, but Rosam was replaced as overseer of HIS and died a few years later. Both Gene and his wife were very gracious people. At one time he was a Circuit Overseer in the United States before he was sent to Canada.
My take on why the HLC is not mentioned in newspaper articles is because of accusations of intimidation and coercion that are being leveled in Canada at these committees because it seems to medical staff and onlookers that when they appear at a JW patient's bedside there is automatically an unspoken reminder to the patient, or JW family of the patient, that to accept blood and survive, he/she will be shunned, which, to some people, is worse than death. I would imagine that a HLC has been behind the scenes talking to the sextuplet's parents, once they found out who and where they were, but refuse to be quoted or allow the press to know they even exist for fear that reporters would report on the obvious, that Watchtower, through a HLC is guilty of coercion by their very presence. This sextuplet situation is much too public for the Watchtower, so they are taking every step to downplay their involvement. Here in the United States, media seldom get involved in transfusion cases. Children quietly become wards of the court, etc., and are given blood without any media attention and that’s the way the Society wants it. They don’t want the press shining a light on their beliefs or actions.
Since we haven’t had any high-profile situations like sextuplets born to JWs or a case like Bethany Hughes, which her father, Lawrence, made a constant news item in Canada, Americans have no idea what’s going on and that’s the way the Watchtower likes it.
Major Spry and the Hospital Information Service
"Rescued From Near Death by Nonblood Treatment" is the name of an article found in the October 22, 1992 Awake!. Under the title are these words: "As told by a staff member of the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses."
The article opens with this statement:
"In February 1991, I had gone to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to help conduct seminars on the use of alternatives to blood transfusions. And now I was near death, bleeding severely internally."
The name of the Bethelite, who is one of the directors of the Hospital Information Services (HIS) at Bethel, is not found in the article, but his picture is. It is a photo of Major Spry on a hospital gurney as he is leaving the hospital after his surgery. I was still at Bethel during this time and saw Major in the elevator when he was back to work. I had heard of his illness and was glad to see him up and around and told him so. He told me how near death he came. It was a few months later when Major’s traumatic experience appeared in the Awake!
Major’s hemoglobin had dropped to 6.8 grams per deciliter from what they thought was a bleeding ulcer. He had surgery but his blood count continued to drop because he was still hemorrhaging. When asked, Major’s physician confirmed that he had "…administered EPO (erythropoietin), a synthetic hormone that stimulates bone marrow to produce red blood cells at an accelerated rate."
The October 22, 1990 Awake!, on page 13 it mentions erythropoietin as one of the many alternatives to blood transfusions:
"A promising drug called recombinant erythropoietin … speeds up the body’s own production of red blood cells, in effect helping a person to make more of his own blood."
Also, see the November 22, 1991 Awake!, page 10 where under the subheading, "Therapeutics for Low Hemoglobin" erythropoietin is listed as a product that "stimulates bone marrow to produce blood."
Furthermore, Major Spry requested other products because, as he stated, "the body still needs the basic building blocks in order to produce healthy red blood cells. These building blocks are folic acid, vitamin B, and especially iron. Iron dextran (Imferon) administered intravenously is the fastest way to supply needed iron."
Major was also administered a chemical hemostat, a medicine that arrests the flow of blood. He specifically credits EPO, Imferon, this unnamed chemical hemostat, and Vitamin K, for saving his life.
The doctors believed Major must have ingested some toxic substance that caused a perforation, perhaps in the colon. He was too weak to undergo surgery again and his blood count kept dropping. After losing about 75 percent of his blood, the doctors found that one of the drugs (unnamed) could have been contributing to the bleeding and stopped giving it to him.
In the title of the article, Major said of this harrowing experience that he was "Rescued From Near Death by Nonblood Treatment." The words, "nonblood treatment" were found three times including in the title. He also used the words, "nonblood products" once when he said at the conclusion of his story when writing about the hospital where he had received surgery: "…they now realized we had a successful regimen for treating patients with nonblood products and that they would be happy to cooperate with us in the future."
However, as skeeter1 pointed out in another thread regarding blood and the Watchtower organization:
At one time, no blood products were allowed. Imagine if these kids were born then. Recombatant, human erythropoitien (if available) would not have been allowed in the 1950s, as it was a blood product since it contains a small amount of albumin.
http://www.cim.sld.cu/productos/productos_ing.asp?var=11 . Today, the Watchtower Society is pushing this human epo, hemoglobin, albumin, immunoglobins, etc...all of which they call "blood fractions."
Recombatant, human erythropoitien (EPO)
Vial: Each 1 mL of solution contains 2 000 IU or 4 000 IU of Epoetin Alfa,
2.5 mg of human albumin, 5.8 mg of sodium citrate, 5.8 mg sodium chloride,
0.06 mg of citric acid and 0.02 mg of polysorbate 20 in water for injection, pH 6.1+/- 0.3.
Albumin (Erythropoietins), is a blood component (made from blood plasma) which the WT Society allows. Major Spry said EPO was part of the nonblood treatment, yet albumin is a blood product. It is listed in the Watchtower’s "Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care" form, PART 1
— Health-Care Instructions which Jehovah’s Witnesses are provided with. Note Number (3):
With respect to minor blood fractions or products containing minor blood fractions, according to my conscience I ACCEPT: [initial one of the three choices below]
____ (a) NONE
____(b) ALL
____ (c) SOME That is, I ACCEPT:
_____ Products that may have been processed with or contain small
amounts
Albumin (e.g., streptokinase, and some recombinant products [such as erythropoietin (EPO) and synthesized clotting factors], and some radionuclide scan preparations may contain albumin).
______ Immunoglobulins (e.g., Rh immune globulin, gammaglobulin, horse
serum, snake bite antivenins)
______ Clotting factors (e.g., fibrinogen, Factors VII, VIII, IX, XII).
When I read Major Spry’s testimony, I truly believed his statement that "Nonblood Treatment" saved his life but I was misled. Yes, some "nonblood" treatment helped him, but EPO was admitedly used as a major part of his treatment, and it is a minor blood fraction. So a blood product, which took many liters of blood to make, helped save Major Spry's life. They sure fooled me. How about you?