If a JW manages to get further education (or did before conversion) and say become a professional such as a doctor.....are they allowed to perform blood transfusions?
Are dubs allowed to.....?
by SpiceItUp 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Ravyn
not unless they are under contract to---as in working for an HMO or hospital and then it is considered 'line of duty'---however I knew doctors and nurses who basically were hounded until they quit their jobs about blood transfusions and abortions. If it is at all a matter of choice for the doctor(even contracts AFTER they became JWs), JWs expect you to refuse even if it means your livelihood. Same with police who carry a gun. I even knew firemen who were eventually forced to quit. I was an EMT for 6 years and I was grilled about it the whole time. I was even investigated by a committee once when the company I worked for contracted to provide First Aid for a religious Revival and I had to work it. I knew city and county workers who were also given hard times for their indirect political connections due to their jobs. This was all in southern California.
Ravyn
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NeonMadman
I seem to remember an article a long time ago that said that a JW who was a doctor could order blood for people who were not JW's, if his conscience permitted it. They based their reasoning on the scripture in the Law that said that an Israelite could not eat an animal that had been strangled, but could sell it to a Gentile.
However, I just did a search of the WT Library CD trying to find the article, and couldn't find it.
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blondie
NeonMadman,
I found it here (search doctor deut 14:21)
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w64 11/15 pp. 682-683 Employment and Your Conscience ***Christians in the medical profession are individually responsible for employment decisions. They must bear the consequences of decisions made, in keeping with the principle at Galatians 6:5. Some doctors who are Jehovah’s witnesses have administered blood transfusions to persons of the world upon request. However, they do not do so in the case of one of Jehovah’s dedicated witnesses. In harmony with Deuteronomy 14:21, the administering of blood upon request to worldly persons is left to the Christian doctor’s own conscience. This is similar to the situation facing a Christian butcher or grocer who must decide whether he can conscientiously sell blood sausage to a worldly person.
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shamus
Rules made by men, no?
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blondie
You bet, shamus. A rule for everything. The Jewish law code has 600 laws; I bet the WTS has more rules than that.
Jesus had just 2 laws:
Love God
Love your neighbor as yourself
Blondie
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SpiceItUp
Thanks for the response.
They just don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. even if its not their idea and they still do it then that is a lack of integrity. Imagine that.
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Wolfgirl
My first husband was an ER physician. The decision that was come to (I think he asked the elder he studied with) was that he would try to find another doctor to write the order for the blood transfusion, but if it was an emergency, and the commonly accepted course of treatment included transfusions, he would do it, except if it was a JW, of course.
I remember telling him (even though I was a fairly strong JW at the time) that it would be wrong of him to impose his religious beliefs on someone else.
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Mr. Kim
The WTB&TS will change it's "man-made" rules when enough people fight back and sue the crap out of anyone and everyone that attempts to dictate your own "professional" choices.
In reality, if a doctor refused to give/administer a "common" treatment which could save a life and if the patient died because of "his-her" decision which was/is based on the JW doctrine and not based on Scientific fact and practice; the doctor and the WTB&TS can be held criminally liable. The WTB&TS is very careful to cover their tracks on this one!
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gumby
Some doctors who are Jehovah’s witnesses have administered blood transfusions to persons of the world upon request. However, they do not do so in the case of one of Jehovah’s dedicated witnesses.
Thats right......the world is soon to be dead meat anyways real soon now. They are going to die anyway.
MR. Kim made a good point. A witness doctor may be covered by refusing to give blood to a fellow believer as laws allow for religious convictions in this matter. However were he to refuse it to someone WITHOUT those convictions......he'd be sued and lose his licence and could possibly cause trouble for the Organisation.
Gumby