JW Doctors

elisaporquien

Okay I know that there are people who began careers in Medicine, Law, etc. then LATER got into the truth. I know that pursuing a higher education is not forbidden but a personal choice. Is there anyone out there, reading this, that grew up in the truth and pursued a career in medicine (and remained in the truth)? What was the experience like (both med school and residency)? I'm not a Jehovah's Witness but my mom and my sister are and I believe in no blood. I've wanted to pursue a career in medicine since I was young but this 'detail' has stopped me from confidently pursuing it. Share your story please?

cofty

Hi Welcome to the forum. I think a career in medicine would be a great thing to achieve.

Perhaps it would help to discuss why you have issues about blood.

Is it for religious or medical reasons?

If the former then don't worry. The JW prohibition on blood is based on a misunderstanding. We can help.

If the latter then medical science is way ahead of you. The benefits and dangers of blood are well understood.

NVR2L8

Just to clarify...education is a personal decision but JWs discourage the pursuit higher education and of a professional career. Young ones are encouraged to have just enough education to pay for life's necessity so they can dedicate their time as full time evangilizers. The only JW doctor I know was in her last year of medical school when she became a JW. Today she works as a doctor as little as possible to be able to be a pioneer with her husband.

Fernando

Dear elisaporquien

A warm welcome to JWN, where you doubtless will meet many varied, interesting and fine specimens of the human race.

Medicine it seems can be a very big and varied field especially if you take an "Integrative Medicine" approach.

I would hesitate to let such a small detail (such as blood transfusions) get in the way of my confidence and passion.

Yes, I know that Western medicine is in its infancy and we still have a lot of learning, growing and developing to do.

Mistakes have been made and will continue to be.

You should be free to be guided by your conscience and to reject bad medicine.

Psychiatry for example has a rotten history. Yet quite a number of Psychiatrists became involved in "anti-Psychiatry" and "Transpersonal Psychiatry" which defies the orthodox, reductionist, destructive and materialist mono-dimensional Western bio-medicine model.

I know, see and accept that there is a lot of hypocrisy, arrogance, authoritarianism and deception in Western bio-medicine. A lot is made of "evidence based medicine" yet the evidence of failure is simply ignored. For example 9 out of 10 Australians have a 100% chance of getting Chronic Disease and dying from it. The revolving door phenomenon in mental illness is somehow also not acceptable evidence of failure.

Still a passionate optimist can make the world of difference. As Margaret Mead observed: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Australian Professor Barry Marshall was once a young, brash medical doctor who came up with the insane and unheard of idea of performing a biopsy on a stomach ulcer. Go figure! The medical establishment was positively mortified at this astounding and impertinent heresy which led to the most unfortunate discovery of the "Helicobacter Pylori" bacterium. Well after 23 years all the egos and chest beating had finally died down, and poor old Barry was awarded a Nobel prize for his shocking forays into medical heresy. Now let's not get started about all the avoidable stomach ulcer related deaths caused by the medical "orthodoxy of the moment"...

Having been a Watchtower religionist for more than 40 years, and having now come to faith, I can confidently assure you the Watchtower is dead wrong in seeking to prohibit blood transfusions, fractions and donations on any sort of spiritual basis where your prospects of eternal life depend on their latest whim and interpretation.

Medically however I would accept that a whole blood transfusion is (much like) an organ transplant with serious attendant complications and an avenue of last resort. I would also accept that the bumbling and stumbling Watchtower may have uncovered some worthy alternatives in use by surgeons who seek to pursue bloodless surgery where possible. Plasma Volume Expanders and so on...

Best wishes on your chosen field of study and career

Fernando

rebel8

Welcome.

You would be surprised if you researched the science behind use of blood. After all, physicians are science-based professionals. Dubs did not tell you the truth about the medical facts. You would not be against it if you researched the facts.

I'm not pro-blood per se, but I am for medical care, science, and avoiding needless suffering and death when the technology exists to do so. (Here's me.)

Bungi Bill

To use the term "personal choice" is taking matters a bit far when you are talking about Jehovahs Witnesses and higher education. I was stopped from going to university by the congregation's elders (one in particular - the same retard who 12 months later made me abandon the apprenticeship I had just started).

There was very little "personal choice" involved, more like Hobson's choice!

Bill.

Fernando

In essence what cofty said.

Nathan Natas

Elisaporquien said, " Okay I know that there are people who began careers in Medicine, Law, etc. then LATER got into the truth. I know that pursuing a higher education is not forbidden but a personal choice. Is there anyone out there, reading this, that grew up in the truth and pursued a career in medicine (and remained in the truth)? What was the experience like (both med school and residency)? I'm not a Jehovah's Witness but my mom and my sister are and I believe in no blood. "

You are now in the company of XJWs. We don't use the Watchtower catch-phrase "the Truth™" because Watchtower dogma has nothing to do with objective, observabe truth. We don't impugn truth by associating the word with the Watchtower. Call it "the Truth" around your Mom and Sis if you must, but don't expect us to get warm & fuzzy when you use that cult lingo here.

...and if you really are not a JW as you say, WHY o why would you call it "the truth"? Is that just a bad habit you picked up, or do you really believe it is "the truth"? If you do, get thee to a Kingdom Hall!

You say that higher education is a "personal choice." Yeah, if you don't mind being labeled as "spiritually weak" and constantly harrassed from all sides because of your "choice", then yeah, sure it's a "choice" viewed in the same way that your "choice" to use heroin would be.

So, you're not a JW but you believe in "no blood." Are you an Israelite? Are you a member of The Society For Creative Anachronism trying to get a post-diluvian gig going? Do you accept blood fractions in the way JWs do, or are you an absolutist on the issue?

snare&racket

Hey X

I am in the last year of my 7years of my medical education.

number one ...go for it, but you will see how personsl your choice is when the elders come knocking had you been baptised.

number two..... your views on blood are because you were a JW not because they are logical, non jw's do not share your view at all.

number three.... don't worry, an education will iron out all of the JW myths and highlight their dishinesty, even in ilife and death matters.

If you really want to be a doctor you will have to adopt the EVIDENCE BASED MEDICINE we now practice. That means following the science. How could you give someone blood ethically if you really believe it is wrong on a life saving scientific level? how do you think every doctor does it if it is unscientific or dangerous? Ever considered your ideas on blood may not be valid? Ever considered you may have been lied to? Why not go find out.....

i love my job, I love the science and information it has given me. I am embarassed at the person I was, the JW I was, the opinions a d stances I had despite total ignorance.

For me medicine is the most rewarding job there is, the fact it is hand in hand with science and ethics is just a bonus as an ex jw.

Go for it, you will love it. I will never ever know how the JW doctors I met in my life sleep at night knowing what they know.

Snare x

The Searcher

I must be picking up the wrong vibes from speakers at assemblies and KHs, but my understanding on 'higher education' is that it is not simply 'a matter of conscience', but it is frowned upon by the GB to the point of being vilified and demonized. It has already been directed from on high that a serving brother may be refused/lose privileges if his offspring takes up higher education . Their ambiguity is nothing less than weasel-words which give little Napoleon-like elders the opportunity to ostracize anyone who doesn't glorify them - i.e., a Mordecai & Haman scenario.

The indisputable fact as to why the GB's pontificating stance is reprehensible, can be seen by looking at the new video on JW.ORG regarding the rapid progress of the new HQ at Warwick - numerous brothers who are involved in the project must have college degrees, e.g. lawyers, draughtsmen, architects, surveyors, electrical engineers, civil engineers, etc. etc.

If college education is unscriptural, present the proof and remove all 'privileges' from such erring brothers!

You can't condemn prostitution and then use the services of a hooker!

I think that would be called hypocrisy and double-standards by most right thinking people!

JW Doctors

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