Doctors and surgeons say no to blood transfusions

by Mr Negative 65 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  OrphanCrow

  Dr Boyd practised at the Royal Vic, which was close by, and ascociated with The local universities,like MacGill, but he did not strike me primarily as as a research scientist

  Then he shouldn't have been presented as one by the HLC team.

  I am sure he was an excellent doctor. It is implied in the presentation that he didn't lose any of the 500 plus JW women that he had operated on (but maybe he did and that just wasn't mentioned). Because, it would be very unusual if none of his patients had died. According to a study conducted in the Netherlands - Maternal mortality and serious maternal morbidity in Jehovah’s witnesses - it would be expected that at least 7 of those patients would have experienced death http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02191.x/pdf:

  Results The MMR for Jehovah’s witnesses was 68 per 100 000 live
  births. We found a risk of 14 per 1000 for Jehovah’s witnesses to
  experience serious maternal morbidity because of obstetric
  haemorrhage while the risk for the total pregnant population was
  4.5 per 1000.

  a valuable reference practioner with his penchant for minimum blood use practise.

  Exactly. Minimum blood use. This is something that all doctors practice, contrary to what the WTS claims - minimal blood use - NOT abstain from blood. The WTS has taken what is common medical practice and used that position to advocate for no blood whatsoever. This is very critical distinction that the WTS exploits - just look back at the quotes I tracked down - the doctors are being presented to the JWs as advocating no blood when in reality, they advocate minimal blood - a standard practice.

  ...the WTS. has never acknowledged that Blood Transfusions have saved millions of people's lives since its inception into medical practice

  Finkelstein, that is a very important point. Blood transfusions save lives. Bottom line.

  And the other thing that the WTS misrepresents is blood safety. They have demonized blood and have made the JWs terrified of blood transfusions by saying that they are not safe. However, this is just not true. Here is what Mr. Emanuel said about the safety of blood transfusions when speaking at an FDA conference (pg 251) http://www.fda.gov/downloads/biologicsbloodvaccines/newsevents/workshopsmeetingsconferences/ucm133812.pdf)

  ...red cells are just very, very safe, probably the safest intervention that the whole healthcare system uses.
  You know, some of you may know about the six sigmas in production, that if you can get the six sigmas, you know, you're very, very safe. The airline industry gets there, other -- your cell phone gets there and it turns out that, as best as I can see, red cells are probably the only thing we do in the healthcare system that passes the six sigma rate.
  The six sigma rate is 0.4 defects in a million episodes. It's just really tremendously safe.

  red cells are just very, very safe, probably the safest intervention that the whole healthcare system uses

  The WTS should NEVER have got involved in the medical decisions of their members. Never. They give out erroneous advice and people die because of it.
• 

  Mary

  They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but so does religion. I went to visit my mom's best friend recently. She's in the hospital with a malignant tumour in her bowel that's bleeding. Her blood count has dropped to 79. They want to go in asap to remove the tumour, but because her blood count is so low and because, as a JW, she won't take blood, then the risks of her dying are A LOT higher. Anyway, the doctor came in while we were there and he went through everything with her (she wanted us to stay) and told her that while he respected her religious beliefs, he had to tell her of the potential consequences. He asked if there was anything she would take, but because she didn't have her blood card with her, she had no idea at all as to what she could and couldn't take.
  
  I stepped in and told the doctor that there are some things they can take, but none of these 'fractions' would be of any benefit to her in her condition. She needs packed red cells that carry the oxygen to the lungs and of course, this is on the 'do not pass go' list. I asked if there was any treatment, drugs or therapy that can replace the oxygen in the red cells, even though I was 99.99% of the answer even before he told me. Bottom line is: we won't have that technology for a few more decades at least.

  After the doctor left, she said she was so happy we were there to help because she wouldn't remember anything that he said. I thought "well isn't this ironic: an apostate trying to help an elderly JW through a life and death decision.'
  
  What was so sad and pathetic is that she started preaching to the doctor about how it was a 'conscience matter', etc. etc. I thought "oh god, this is the definition of insanity: preaching to the doctor who's trying to save your life, about how great the cult is that is, more or less, forcing you to possibly commit suicide.'
  
  I actually had a conversation with a Witness about the blood recently on-line. They of course gave me the old: 'if the doctor told you to abstain from blood, would you inject it into your veins?' I said "if it was going to save my life? Absolutely'. I then said to him: 'If your doctor told to abstain from eating organ meat (which means no liver & onions or steak and kidney pie), and then 6 months down the road you were told you needed a kidney transplant, would you refuse on the grounds that "my doctor told me to abstain from eating organ meat"?
  
  Never heard back from him.
• 

  Phizzy

  The so very sad thing about the whole murderous JW blood doctrine is that in truth, the Bible says NOTHING about using blood in a medical way to save life.

  NOTHING, not even "in principle".

  The JW.Org website, perhaps inadvertantly, admits this when it says that the Bible ban on blood is only on "ingesting" (eating) it.

  In a few years time the goons at JW H Q will have a flash of Noo Lite and the whole thing will not be a problem. But because they know that huge Damages would be claimed by those who lost loved ones if they changed the Doctrine/policy overnight, they will introduce the death of the Doctrine by tiny increments. It is always about the $$$

  In the mean time many still die.

  The JW leaders have a huge Sea of Blood that cries out for their actions in wilfully causing the totally unnecessary death of so many to be answered for.
• 

  Vidiot

  Phizzy - "In a few years time the goons at JW H Q will have a flash of Noo Lite and the whole thing will not be a problem. But because they know that huge Damages would be claimed by those who lost loved ones if they changed the Doctrine/policy overnight, they will introduce the death of the Doctrine by tiny increments."

  Some of us have thought that from time to time, and a pretty strong case could be made that it actually seemed like it in recent years.

  x

  Lately, however, they've staunchly reiterated their stance - in part, I suspect, for 2 reasons...

  a) the constant pressure from their critics and opponents to ease up, and b) an increase of suspicion on our part that they might actually be easing up.

  x

  Authoritarian regimes absolutely hate capitulating to their opponents (or being percieved as doing so).
• 

  Phizzy

  You are right Vid, but as gaining new recruits in the areas of the World where donations actually cover costs is getting well nigh impossible, they may be forced to gradually get rid of this major reason why JW's are rejected.

  The Mighty $ rules their every move remember
• 

  LisaRose

  Authoritarian regimes absolutely hate capitulating to their opponents (or being percieved as doing so).

  Bingo. Also, if they changed their stance now, it will be painfully obvious that the Jehovah's Witnesses who died for lack of a blood transfusion did so for no reason whatsoever, so that will never happen. They would rather have people continue to die than admit they were ever wrong.

  It's a tragedy that in 2014 people are still dying based on an irrational fear of transfusions, dating to the time they were first being used and considered dangerous by the ignorant. People still think they are "following their conscience", when they would have followed their doctors advice if the Watchtower hadn't filled their heads with misinformation.