by besty 30 Replies latest watchtower medical
Think about it. 99% of JW's have no idea whats allowed and whats banned - too complex.
So most JW's tick the I accept nothing box. This from an HLC member I spoke with some time back. Just to be on the 'safe' side, ironically.
Anyway imagine the number of dead JW's there would be if this was allowed to run its course.
So IMHO part of the HLC raison d'etre is to make sure JW's take the blood fractions they are 'allowed'.
Thoughts?
Sounds possible....
When my second husband was in the hospital, the HLC was called in. They decided to wait until his blood count got to a ridiculously low level... and then they would arrange for him to be given something. I have no idea now what it even was. Fortunately his count stabilized and he didn't need what they were going to... "OK"... for him to have.
So, yeah they had something in the works.
Cas
Besty wrote: So most JW's tick the I accept nothing box. This from an HLC member I spoke with some time back. Just to be on the 'safe' side, ironically.
I discussed the options cited on the AMD with my very strict jw friend before surgery about 10 years ago. She was adamant that it was OK to take certain factions and tried to encourage me to do the same.
I ticked 'accept nothing' with the reasoning that if I would refuse to donate to the cause on religious grounds, it would be wrong to accept blood - even in fraction form.
Silly me.
-Aude.
PS: Fortunately, mostly because of my refusal to accept blood, my surgeon and I discussed various surgical approaches and no blood was needed.
An HLC member went to work at a hospital after several months of consulting with them on setting up their "bloodless surgery" center. He became an adminstrator at the hospital, in charge of that program. This was a full-time paid position. This scenario is not uncommon these days. One of his jobs was to serve as the liaison between the hospital and the HLC members, all of whom were people he knew and had worked with when he was on the area HLC.
His job at the hospital was exactly the same as it was when he was on the HLC: to advise JW patients as to what their options were in a surgical situation. He was extremely well-versed on the Society's "present truth" with respect to blood use, including fractions, cell savers, the use of EPO and other drugs, etc.
Every morning he'd review the hospital census report (which includes a notation on the patient's religious preference) and visit every single dub who was in the hospital (and especially those in for surgery). He would introduce himself and make sure they knew he was a dub elder and former HLC member, and then review all the options that were "approved" by the WTS.
He said that 98% of the dubs he saw "had no idea" what the current JW teaching was on blood and were usually surprised (and greatly relieved) when he ticked off all the available options. Almost every one of them then signed consent forms allowing the use of alternate medical management that included the use of fractions and other treatments.
This made the doctors enormously happy, of course. It made the hospital happy because it was a new "profit center" for them (they marketed this to the JW Community extensively). It made the dub patients happy, too, because nobody died. He was especially happy in the Trauma Center/Emergency Room because he was able to give the surgeons wiggle room when a dub was scraped off the highway and presented with heavy blood loss.
I would say you are exactly correct: His job was to make sure JWs take blood (or some fraction thereof, as allowed by "Mother"). And he was taught that through his years of work on the HLC, where he performed exactly the same work without pay.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. But it speaks volumes about the extent to which this whole blood thing is truly "up to each individual's bible trained conscience," as the dub organization would have you believe.
He said that 98% of the dubs he saw "had no idea" what the current JW teaching was on blood
yep - that seems to be the consensus - the JW's are baffled by their own beliefs
Like Aude says - its hypocritical to take but not donate - I reckon a lot of true believers feel that way. My brother does for one.
You may be onto something Paul. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/16/125130/1.ashx
Honestly I would have to say no. I know some HLC brothers that cringe at blood fractions and have zero problem with a no blood fraction stand even to the death.
I know some HLC brothers that cringe at blood fractions and have zero problem with a no blood fraction stand even to the death.
The key word there is "some." At a conference I attended on advances in bloodless surgery, conducted by a dub elder hospital administrator, attended only by invited JW elders and their wives, the guy finished and then asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know, given everything that had just been explained about the Society's current position on blood and transfusions, how many in the audience would take advantage of all the options. At first it appeared the entire audience held up hands. then he asked, "Is there anyone who would not?" Two people raised their hands. The look on their faces told me they were silently condemining everyone else in the room!
Also: In some rural areas, there are no HLC guys like the elder I've been talking about in this thread. In many cities and suburbs, there are. Wherever an HLC has at least one guy who has some education and any kind of medical background and/or reads and understands the Society's current doctrines, most of the others generally bow to his authority on such matters. So, like many other JW perceptions, it depends on where you live.
Donate? Blood? What? Please explain this to me.
Some more thoughtful or old school JW's won't accept any blood products as they feel it would be hypocritical to make use of a blood supply that they are forbidden from donating back into.
