Blood Issue.......something for thought, where is the logic.

by CovertsadJW 36 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  CovertsadJW

  Hello everyone,

  I have yet to read about the contradictions in the JW teachings on blood, but I have personally witnessed one. I am a medical professional and have seen Hemopure administered for an active JW who did refuse a blood transfusion. Its not FDA approved here, but given in special life saving circumstances. Here is my question , and if you know or have researched it please let me know.

  An active JW refuses blood and blood has many fractions including hemoglobin. Why cannot a JW get "human" hemoglobin , but it turn its fine to get hemopure ( in some cases) as its primary component is chemically stabilized "bovine hemoglobin" or HBOC 201. So.....bovine hemoglobin is okay? , but human is not ? Where is the logic in that?

  Thoughts?
  
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  moreconfusedthanever

  Most JWs do not know about this. Just recently I came across one who didn't know they can get fractions from blood or that JWs are allowed to take them.

  They trust a group of men to tell them what they can and cannot have without giving any thought or research into it. They trust that the research has been done for them and that the organization would not allow anything that Jehovah disapproves of.

  Logic does not come into it.
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  cofty

  You are right it is completely irrational.

  I think the GB have backed themselves into a corner. They cannot retract on their basic doctrine that blood transfusions are against god's law but they are trying to do everything to find loopholes to reduce the death count and the legal exposure that comes with that.
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  TD

  The doctrine does not distinguish between human and animal blood.

  It does however draw an artificial and contrived distinction between "primary components" and "secondary components" of blood.

  Intact red blood cells are forbidden

  Polymerized hemoglobin preparations are permitted regardless of the source of the hemoglobin.

  If memory serves one of the Hb based substitutes in competition with Hemopure and Polyheme was in fact made from donated human blood whose shelf life had expired. (Hemassist by Baxter Laboratories)
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  sparrowdown

  Seems ironic that bovine hemoglobin would be acceptable in life saving circumstances and JWs refer to themselves as "sheep." Seems like the all-powerful all-wise GB have decided the JWs who obey them have more in common with cattle or livestock than independent, logical, thinking human beings and sadly by the time the WT has finished fully indoctrinating them it's probably true.
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  OrphanCrow

  TD: one of the Hb based substitutes in competition with Hemopure and Polyheme was in fact made from donated human blood whose shelf life had expired. (Hemassist by Baxter Laboratories)

  You are correct that Hemassist was made from expired human blood, but so was Polyheme (made by Northfield labs). Polyheme has also been used on JW patients.

  Hemassist clinical trials, in the late 90s, were halted when the subjects died at a much greater rate than those who didn't receive it.

  In fact, all the blood "substitutes" that have been tried on JWs have proven to be less effective than blood itself
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  TD

  Thanks, OC. Memory is as they say, the second thing to go....
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  OrphanCrow

  sparrow: Seems ironic that bovine hemoglobin would be acceptable in life saving circumstances and JWs refer to themselves as "sheep."

  What else is ironic is that the OT scripture they always pull out to defend the WT's blood phobia specifically is about animal blood. And yet that is exactly what the WT has approved for JWs to have transfused - animal blood.

  The so-called "blood ban" is ridiculous. Beyond ridiculous. All parts of blood is WT "approved" - the WT decides when blood can be used and what part of the blood is used. The JW patient just follows the herd and signs on the dotted line.

  It isn't a blood ban. It is a blood phobia that is tightly controlled and administered by the WT's Hospital Information Services.

  *you are welcome, TD. Yeah...memory is a bugger sometimes
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  millie210

  
  TD
  Intact red blood cells are forbidden
  Polymerized hemoglobin preparations are permitted regardless of the source of the hemoglobin.

  Thanks for the information. So what is it about "polymerizing" that nakes the red blood cell no longer intact?

  I am trying to understand how the Org justifies and reasons on this.
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  OrphanCrow

  CovertSadJW: So.....bovine hemoglobin is okay? , but human is not ? Where is the logic in that?

  The logic is WT logic. And it has to do with money.

  The WT's HIS direct JW patients into clinical trials for blood substitutes. And, when the trials are halted, and that blood product is sitting in "unapproved" status, the JWs come in handy in keeping that product in production as a "compassionate use" drug. "Refusal of blood for religious reasons" is the catch phrase that keeps Hemopure on the market. The JW patient is quite valuable to the companies that develop blood alternatives.

  JWs have been guinea pigs for products such as Fluosol-Da and Hemopure, etc

  By the way, did you know that Hemopure is basically the same as Oxygent, the blood substitute that has been approved for veterinarian use? The JW patient gets blood that is used for dogs. The JW patient is the next step up from animal testing.