When the “blood fractions” was available for any pacient as an alternative treatment?

by RodrigoGuerreiro 18 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  OrphanCrow

  Rodrigo: Imagine the immunoglobulin injections now they are “allowed” by the cult, but I think that for some amount of time (I don’t know specifically how much years ) they are presented by the medical community as an optional treatment and the JWs rejected that option because the blood prohibition.

  That happened.

  In particular, it happened with RhoGAM, a Rh immunoglobulin (RhIg). RhIg is an injectable drug given to women with Rh-negative blood during pregnancy. The main purpose of RhIg is to prevent problems in case baby has Rh-positive blood.

  For an excellent summary of Rhogam and how it was handled by the WTS, read this link here:

  Jehovah's Witnesses and the Rh Factor

  by Marlene Mercado

  A key point that Marlene talks about in her letter is that during the first 6 years that Rhogam was available and not used for JW women, several JW women would have developed antibodies that would have been them ideal blood donors. Donors who could have saved countless numbers of babies. But they couldn't and didn't donate their blood back to the donor pool so that other babies could live.

  Rhogam was available in 1968, the WTS gave 'approval' six years later (buried in a footnote in a 1974 Questions from Readers).

  TD: I believe the time lag you speak of does exist with experimental treatments and techniques. PolyHeme, for example was an experimental oxygen carrying blood substitute and it was used on some JW patients in actual clinical trials.
  I'm not sure if this is a good example of what you had in mind though. PolyHeme was discontinued around 2009 because of its negative side effects.

  Now we are speaking of a cat of a different color.

  Artificial blood. Blood substitutes. Oxygen carriers.

  These are made from hemoglobin. A blood "fraction". A blood component.

  Here is where the Jehovah's Witnesses shine. This is how the development of blood substitutes/oxygen carriers has proceeded:

  Development of product in lab using animals.

  Released for use on Jehovah's Witness patients for "compassionate use".

  Clinical trials.

  Approved for use in general population.

  You see, when it comes to blood "substitutes" or "artificial blood", the JWs move up in line. They are targeted for these developmental products. The JWs are the guinea pigs.

  Where this is very evident is in the Fluosol trials back in the 70s. Fluosol's first human use was done on JWs - JWs who were targeted for a trial by the Japanese firm who produced it and the trials were implemented by those "pilot" HLC guys. That is why the JWs were such a prime group to try out an artificial blood product - they already had a "hot-line" set up with the Lapin group and also had a crew of JWs already connected to doctors and hospitals in Canada.

  The Fluosol trials were undertaken, in the latter part of the 70s on the JW population...and thus the birth of the Hospital Liaison Committees.

  Fluosol-DA almost made it out of the starting gate but it was eventually discontinued. However, that hasn't stopped the targeting of the JWs as a group that "requires" a blood substitute*.

  Polyheme (made from expired human blood) was being used on JWs before clinical trials were announced. And Hemopure too - it was used on JWs first - it still hasn't made it through to the approval stage and only recently went back into production.

  Never fear. When new artificial blood products become available, the JWs will be the first to receive it. That is the way it works. Dogs, bunnies, guinea pigs and monkeys first. JWs next. And then everybody else.

  *and why do the JWs "require" an artificial blood product? Because they have been given a blood disorder by the WTS. A made-up blood disorder. A rare blood group. A made-up rare blood group.
• 

  TD

  Wow...I didn't realize that RhoGam was ever prohibited. (I'm tempted to ask, "Why?" but nothing about the doctrine makes any sense anyway....)

  Perhaps another example would be the administration of IgG as a transfusion (i.e. An inverted 500ml bag connected to the patient by IV) which is a treatment for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and Kawasaki's syndrome. I could imagine some JW's having a problem with this procedure because of the method.
• 

  OrphanCrow

  TD: I'm tempted to ask, "Why?"

  That's easy. It had blood in it. Made from blood.

  Of course it was prohibited. To fall in line with the argument that the blood phobia is a religious prohibition it should be prohibited. ALL blood products and such SHOULD be off-limits. If it was/is a sincere and valid religious belief.

  That was the basis for prohibiting some of the vaccinations back in the day. I remember being told that I couldn't get vaccinations because it had been "grown" in chicken eggs and eggs sometimes had blood in them. Strangely enough, my mom would just pick out the blood from the eggs she cracked to cook with. But still, I didn't get vaccinated just in case a speck of blood made it into the serum or so I was told.

  The WTS allows fractions, components, etc of blood. They do NOT prohibit blood like they claim they do. They control and select which parts of the blood can be used

  It is not a religious belief.

  It is a blood phobia.
• 

  OrphanCrow

  TD: Perhaps another example would be the administration of IgG as a transfusion (i.e. An inverted 500ml bag connected to the patient by IV) which is a treatment for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and Kawasaki's syndrome. I could imagine some JW's having a problem with this procedure because of the method.

  That is interesting, TD.

  Why I find that interesting is because so-called "bloodless" surgery procedures, which the WTS promotes as "the golden standard of care" has only came about because of blood transfusion technology.

  The methods used in WTS approved procedures are blood transfusions - transfusions of the patient's own blood. That has been happening since back in the 60s. It is actually pretty ironic. The WTS slams the medical community for using blood transfusions, but then turns around and promotes procedures and technology that relies on the technology developed for blood transfusions.

  It is actually pretty stupid if you break it down into simple terms. Let's say that Jehovah really does hate blood transfusions. Really hates them. Doesn't want people sharing blood at all. No siree. No blood sharing down there on Earth. Don't do it humans! And so Jehovah makes sure that a faithful human transcribes his instructions in stone....to be passed down to more humans as instructions to not share blood. And don't eat it.

  Then things start happening with medicine and people start to share blood for medical purposes. The birth of blood transfusion technology. Which, apparently, Jehovah really, really hated. And then that technology advanced to the point that blood transfusions were saving lives. the blood technology was working.

  And what does Jehovah do next? Well, he sent a message down to Earth to Nathan Knorr and Freddie Franz that Jehovah's special people couldn't avail themselves of this life saving procedure. In 1945. At the end of WW2. BUT. Smarty pants Jehovah had a plan. Yesiree. Jehovah waited until that blood transfusion technology (bad blood transfusions. BAD!) was developed to the point that his special elite ones could avail themselves of that (bad) blood technology so that they didn't have to share their blood with anyone or use the blood of other people unless it had been sanitized first.

  Smarty pants Jehovah. Sitting back in the weeds just waiting until blood transfusions were developed so that he could have his people take that technology and develop Tada! "bloodless" surgery.

  Without blood transfusions, there would be no "bloodless" surgery.

  *to add - I meant to talk about the JWs having problems with the method of delivery of some of the "fractions". A personal story. My sister in law was a nurse. After she retired (and after the person I am about to talk about died) she shared with me how this JW man's factor viii was administered. The hospital staff would wait until after visiting hours were over and then they would hook up his bag of clotting factor to his IV. And then they would take a towel or two to cover the bag and the tube going into his arm so he wouldn't have to see the 'blood' going in. It upset him so much to see the red clotting factors and yet he took the treatment so that he could be with his family longer. It was sad. He was one of the good ones. A very kind and nice man who had hemophilia.
• 

  RodrigoGuerreiro

  OrphanCrow, you completely answer my questions (I have no idea of JWs are some of the ”guinea pigs” on some medical trials, I thought that was a big gap between the availability of the treatment and the JWs acceptance)

  👏👏👏 for your posts
• 

  OrphanCrow

  Rodrigo: I have no idea of JWs are some of the ”guinea pigs” on some medical trials, I thought that was a big gap between the availability of the treatment and the JWs acceptance

  Then you likely didn't know that the trials for a lot of "alternative" procedures, and especially artificial blood, are funded and organized by the US Department of Defense.

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/287365/blood-us-army-us-navy-watchtower-society

  Jehovah's Witnesses cannot don a uniform but they sure do come in handy for medical testing that benefits the military. The two groups that are most interested in artificial blood? The military and the JWs. Bedfellows in the search for the Holy Grail - artificial blood. That magic elixir that just maybe, maybe someday...will extend the life of people for...oh, maybe indefinitely? Synthetic blood. Never dies and never fails. The promise of eternal life - the promise of biotechnology
• 

  TD

  OC
  

  That's easy. It had blood in it. Made from blood.

  We yes, but so did other preparations. The post-exposure rabies vaccine also contained a substantial amount of albumin as an excipient.

  By the 1958 rationale RhoGAM should have been allowed.
  

  Not allowing it singled out Rh-negative women and their unborn children, which is pretty messed up.......
  
  
• 

  OrphanCrow

  TD: Not allowing it singled out Rh-negative women and their unborn children, which is pretty messed up.......

  Yes. Pretty messed up.

  Women and their babies. Two very vulnerable groups of people within the JW population.

  Rhogam should have been allowed. But I suspect that the WTS was far more interested in promoting ultra violet light therapy. That is the treatment that was promoted in the 1973 "Alternatives to Blood Transfusions" which targeted the pediatric population.

  And then, fast forward to the 2000s and JW women and babies were targeted for Stanate (TM) [stannsoporfin, tin-mesoporphyrin].

  Compassionate Use of Stanate (TM) [Stannsoporfin]
• 

  Scully

  Regarding RhoGam:

  When I worked in Maternity several years back (up until 2010), almost every JW female patient who would have been a candidate for the injection refused to have it. Most had a copy of their NO BLOOD document in their chart which affirmed their "choice" to reject this treatment, even when it was explained to them that they were risking the lives of any future children they might have.