This happened a few months ago. A sister in a neighboring congregation, who I have known for many years, had to have surgery. I met with her and the doctor, to be of support to her. She said she had talked to another sister about Cell Saver, and she really wanted that for her surgery. He said OK.
So the doctor agreed, and she was very happy. The surgery was a success. When I went to visit her, there was a bag of blood above her head. She was still asleep. Her daughter, also a Witness, was upset about it. I told her it was the Cell Saver that her mother wanted. (Wikipedia - Intraoperative Cell Salvage Machine. It suctions, washes, and filters blood so it can be given back to the patient's body instead of being thrown away. One advantage to this is the patient receives his/her own blood instead of donor blood, so there is no risk of contracting outside diseases.)
The daughter got very upset, and wanted me to move the bag away from her mom's vision. I couldn't, of course. Then her mom woke up, and after a few minutes she starts to notice the bag of her blood. Then the nurse comes in, and a doctor, and the doctor says, "Well, looks like you need some blood." So she says, "No, I am a Witness, remember the paper I signed." He said, "Of course, but we are going to transfuse you with your own blood. That's what the Cell Saver is, it's a transfusion of your own blood. We discussed it already." The sister was visibly upset. So the nurse comes back in after a few minutes and says, "Ready for your transfusion?" as if she is getting her ready for her bath, or her lunch. No big deal for her. But the sister is still upset, and starts to ask the nurse if the blood "stops" in the machine. The nurse didn't speak English well, so she says she can call the doctor again. But the sister's daughter reassures her its not really a transfusion. The nurse looks confused, but does her job.
Later she was doing better, the doctor said.
The reason I bring this up, I have mentioned this experience before on previous threads. is that the Society AVOIDS THE TERM BLOOD TRANSFUSION. The sister thought it was a little machine that cleans the blood and instantly pumps it back into your body. However the process actually works, the patient ends up WITH A BAG OF BLOOD ABOVE THEIR BED.
So the Witnesses are so ready to fight with the doctors and even die so as not to take blood. They read in the publications that they can have a "Cell Saver." The brochures cleverly avoid the term "blood transfusions in relation to that machine.
Here is the Awake article from 12/8/98 Pg. 20-1. (Notice how they say "reuse" and "never having to store it" rather than "transfusion."
Also significant is the improvement in intraoperative blood salvage machines. During an operation, these recover and immediately reuse the patient’s own blood, without having to store it. Newer machines, while remaining connected to the patient, can even separate blood into components and reuse those that are needed.
After the conference in Riga and upon hearing of Latvia’s need, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sweden donated two cell-saver machines to Latvia. The arrival of the first one and the benefits of bloodless surgery created so much enthusiasm in Latvia that the event received national television coverage there.
The sister really suffered and thought she had compromised her faith. Even her daughter told me "Hey, Bonafide, could you please not say 'blood transfusion' to her? Just say, 'cell saver' ok? I said ok.
The sister is confused because she really didn't understand that her own blood essentially was going to be transfused, the daughter is confused, the doctor is confused because the patient requested it, the nurse is confused because its obviously a transfusion, but the sister doesn't want to use that term.
The Society really screws people up, especially trusting people, they use terms that give a different impression than reality.
BF