Some of the same garbage that ticked me off. Could have lost my father because of this crap.
He was in the hospital for bypass surgery and before the surgery, I looked over his form and I'm glad I did. In his case, I think he was confused and merely asked somebody else which choices he was supposed to check - or maybe the congregation filled them out together and told them, check A, B, and C, but not D. Problem being, at the time in 97, they had just released a new form. Me being an ex-JW and knowing which medical procedures would be more and less objectionable, looked at his form and it looks like he had them switched around. He had all the most questionable (to a JW) procedures OKed but all the least objectionable ones checked as NO. For instance, having blood go out of the body and right back in through a continuous tube was checked no, but storing his own blood and reintroducing it later was OKed. It didn't make sense. While respecting his right to make is own medical choices, it was really questionable as to why he OKed what he did and said no to the others.
When I tried to question why he answered the way he did, his wife (not my mother) is like a mother bird protecting a nest. She gets real defensive and starts treating me as an enemy, as if I'm trying to trick my dad. She's defensive and panicky in the first place and the whole life-or-death gravity of the situation made it worse. After my sister (also a JW) looked it over a little closer, she felt the same way I did. Finally his wife is willing to listen, but not make changes without calling in elders to consult with.
Some elder comes by and tries to explain the JW blood policy. No S--T sherlock, as if I don't know their stance. Tell me the differences between these two procedures and why one is OK and the other isn't. He couldn't. He didn't understand the procedures. So I get transferred to the JW medical liason, who is only slightly less ignorant. We discover a change in forms. The best I can figure is he was told to OK A, B, and C, but not D. Only on the old form, the order was reversed. Mr. lazy liason was reluctant to drive the 40 miles or so to the hospital on a Sunday night, but dad's surgery was first thing the next morning. After a some raised voices and threats of legal action, his sorry ass showed up and new forms were filled out and signed.
Good thing too. My dad was out of it for about the next 4 weeks. Didn't know what was going on. During the early part of his recovery, his kidneys were close to failure and it may have resulted in dialysis - something his first medical form prohibited. The new form OKed it.
It's a shame that such idiots who don't even know this stuff are in charge of forcing it on other people. And then, when they don't even take the care to make sure people understand what they are filling out. These guys just piss me off. And then there's all the JWs who don't even know what they're filling out or understand the procedures, merely checking yes or no based on what somebody else "suggests".
On the plus side, it was the first time I was able to argue with an elder and not feel concern over it, and to tell them they had no idea what they were talking about. And I actually raised my voice to one and threatened him with legal action. That felt so good!
