@Moshe: I absolutely agree that it's not a medical decision--it's a religious one. That's what I was taught "from infancy" by my JW parents. But for years the WTS has tried to make it appear that it's actually doing its membership (and the world at large) a favor by pointing out the dangers of blood. The result is that when confronted with the shaky scriptural basis for the WTS blood doctrine, many JWs resort to the "blood doesn't save lives anyway" argument.
Doesn't the WTS say that blood can't carry oxygen for the first 24 hours after a transfusion?
by Olin Moyles Ghost 35 Replies latest watchtower medical
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hamsterbait
Not FULLY available. Note the WT hopes the Gofors will think "therefore USELESS" and see no point in consent.
At school my biology class did a trip to a hospital, and I asked the consultant taking us round.
He said banked blood is usually blue. If you take some of the blood and shake it in a bottle it turns red from the oxygen in the air.
Witchtower again misrepresents facts.
HB
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cofty
The book I read was by Gene Church, it was the story of Dr Ron Lapin, a Israeli doctor who pioneered bloodless surgery. It is called "No man's blood" but is now out of print.
I remember a recording of Dr Lapin being interviewed on Australian radio. His first point was that he will attempt almost any elective surgery without blood but if you get yourself shot and your bleeding heavily there is nothing to be done for you without an immediate whole blood transfusion.
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TD
It's not the ability to carry oxygen. It's the ability to release oxygen.
In humans, this is governed by a molecule called 2,3-diphosphoglycerate or 2,3-DPG for short. 2,3-DPG weakens the strength of the bond between hemoglobin and O2
Without 2,3-DPG, the hemoglobin molecule not only won't release O2, it's hold will be so voracious that it will rob oxygen from surrounding tissue.
When blood is stored over time, 2,3-DPG begins to lose its function. This is measured by a parameter called, "Disassociation angle"
After blood has been transfused, this function is regained as the molecule reorients itself, but this process has a half-life of 12 hours. (e.g. After 12 hours 50% of the lost function is regained. Note that lost function is not the same thing as overall function.)
So there is a kernal of truth to the JW story, but they have misunderstood the mechanics of the problem.
Doctors have been aware of this for many years --Longer than most of us have been alive. The problem is typically overcome by keeping the patient on supplemental O2 after a transfusion. Blood today is usually not stored for more than a day or two either.
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cofty
Thanks for that explanation TD.
Typical of the borg to be deliberately misleading.
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hamsterbait
WHAT ANGERS ME-
Any fools can see that if blood transfusion is USELESS for 24 hours, why would anybody bother to do it?
It SAVES lives.
Even at the risk of hypothermia trapped victims are given blood occasionally.
HB
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VM44
"...but a recent editorial in Anaesthesia made this significant point..."
If a significan point was made then couldn't a better reference than "a recent editorial" be given so people may read it if they wish?
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FuzzyPaul
The Watchtower almost never includes the source of their quotes. Persons who know the original source often report that the information was rewritten, not quoted. A few quotes were so deceitfully rewritten or misrepresented that the authors original idea was actually contradicted. Jehovah's Witnesses are the least educated U.S. religious group (less than 5% with any college and proud of it) so few know how to do investigative research to verify the Watchtower's claims. When I wrote that, I remembered seeing the scowls of Brothers who condemned getting educated or doing one's own research.
It was this fact of editorial dishonesty that helped me free my conscience and visit other Churches. I found a much better life and feel confident that I actually learn truth. It isn't being a Baptist that I promote, being out of the WT and in any well run Protestant Church is.
Thanks folks,
Paul
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justpassing
FYI,
“We are only now starting to realize what happens to blood when it is drawn out of a human body and sent to the blood bank for storage. Blood undergoes changes profoundly, even in the first 24 hours. The major effect is loss of nitric oxide, which is really fundamental to the process of oxygen exchange.” - Dr. Sunil Rao, Duke assistant professor of medicine, Durham VA Medical Center.
Transfused blood, void of nitric oxide, sucks up nitric oxide from the tissues of the patient. This causes blood vessel constriction, reduces blood flow, which then may cause heart attack or stroke. Other problems with older blood, affect the immune system of patients. Patients receiving transfusion during surgery, often spend much longer in hospital recovering compared to those who manage to avoid transfusion.
"Nitric Oxide does everything, everywhere. You cannot name a major cellular response or physiological effect in which Nitric Oxide is not implicated today. It's involved in complex behavioural changes in the brain, airway relaxation, beating of the heart, dilation of blood vessels, regulation of intestinal movement, function of blood cells, the immune system, even how fingers and arms move." - Dr. Jonathan S. Stamler, Professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center
Dr Stamler also feels that blood transfusion should be a last resort. "If I am bleeding very, very badly and my blood counts are very, very low, I would want a transfusion," Stamler says. "But I would also want a thoughtful physician by my side having to make that decision in a thoughtful way."
Video of Stamler talking about missing Nitric Oxide in stored blood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwjNOu4Asiw
Note:
That video was dated 2007, from what I know, nothing so far as been done to stored blood to infuse nitric oxide - the problem remains (22/2/2010). I know there is ongoing research and increasing pressure on the FDA to change its policy on the length of time blood is allowed to be stored. The longer it's stored (>14 days) the more useless & dangerous it becomes to patients. Current policy is 42days.
Also see article
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?language=&type=&article_id=218393004
Thanks,
Mike.
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wha happened?
And yet my Mom lived for several years as a result of...................