JW Mom (Joyce Stewart) resists life-saving transfusion for little daughter

by Gopher 37 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  Valis

  I wrote this in the Independent's Forum..

  The Truth About Jehovahs Witnesses and Blood Transfusions
  The Witnesses have changed their stance so many times on this issue, but the average Witness wouldn't even notice. Not even the idea that some blood fractions are acceptable. All the while children die for their parents delusional belief that a loving god would want small children to die by not recieving a life saving transfusion. So sad and so disrespectful of human life. It would be nice if the people of Omaha would step in and save the life of a child, but when anyone cries religious freedom all bets are off. Perhaps like the Catholic's pedophile scandal, someone should have stepped forward earlier...those young lives could have been spared as well.
  
  V.

  SIncerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  micheal

  Please remind me again. Why is it such a "blessing" to be a JW?
• 

  frenchbabyface

  !!! TERRIBLE !!! we should provide the surgeons A WHOLE FILL WITH EVIDENCE AGAINST WTBS
  No parents should be allowed to say NO without having seing those files - with psychic support (BUT the probleme here is that it could turn BAD, because the WBTS may say one day to their slaves to no consult any surgeon !)
• 

  mizpah

  shotgun:

  I'm afraid that the position of the Watchtower Society has changed since that 1958 article. I've known of several individuals who were disfellowshipped for accepting blood transfusions. In one case, a "brother" wanted to extend his life long enough to see his children by his first marriage. (He knew he was dying.) The elders made several attempts to see this person in the hospital when they got word of this in spite of the fact that the family forbid any visitors. The elders called after visiting hours and said they were ministers calling upon a sick member. When they got into the room the only thing they were interested in was his verifying that he voluntarily took a blood transfusion. Upon confirming it, the elders left and met again at the Kingdom Hall to disfellowship him.

  Fortunately, this brother's wish to see his family was fulfilled. He died shortly after their visit.
• 

  shamus

  Although sad, this is typical of the Jdub community. The little girl has no idea that a cult is controlling her life saving treatment. She is not a part of it, yet they cram it down her throat!
• 

  Valis

  Eh...I think I got a JW in disguise going on in the Independents discussion forum about this case...Just waiting for this one to call me an Apostate...*LOL*

  http://forums.theindependent.com/cgi-bin/bb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=001264

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  xjw_b12

  Valis That's great. Encourage Blessed to come on over and visit us. Or maybe he has to phone his friend to check and see if it's OK first!
• 

  tinkerbell82

  :O:O:O OH MY GOD i cannot believe someone had the nerve to say that you can't be born into the organization!!!!!
• 

  Gamaliel

  The mother in this case may not be a JW.

  sf,

  In several of those cases, the parents have objected because the use of blood is shunned by their religion.

  The parents often have been Jehovah's Witnesses, whose beliefs include abstaining from blood, including transfusions, based on a literal translation of the Bible.

  You highlighted the section about the parents and implied disfellowhipping. The article is not saying anything about this particular parent, only that in most cases where judges have had to rule on this issue, that the parents in those cases have often been Jehovah's Witnesses. (In fact, I believe they all have been JWs with the possible exception that they were too new to be baptized, or were, in fact, recently disfellowshipped, or loosely associated through a spouse or perhaps raised in the religion as children but no longer associated.)

  There will be a PR advantage to the Society if this case can be used as proof that they are not the only people refusing blood on religious grounds. This idea is already being leveraged on another JW discussion site which quotes a news source: "While Jehovah's Witnesses are one example of religions that discourage blood transfusions, the mother named in the Omaha lawsuit is not a Jehovah's Witness. Thursday, a judge will hear both sides of the case and a decision will be made whether the hospital should proceed with the surgery."

  If I turn on my "mystery-novel-plot-creation device" I could also speculate about a scenario that won't work for the JWs PR Dept:

  What if she isn't a JW, has no interest in JWs, isn't even religious, but is just using the idea as a means of giving up a potentially unwanted baby that is even more unwanted now that the baby has a serious life-threatening heart defect? It would be strange, but the world is full of strange people. Someone in my old congregation, for example, supposedly got her doctor to help her "miscarry" her child who was to be born with Down's Syndrome. That's awful on so many levels I always hoped the rumor wasn't true, but most of the congregation believed it. She was the PO's wife and was therefore never really questioned.

  Gamaliel
• 

  Gamaliel

  The mother in this case may not be a JW.

  sf,

  In several of those cases, the parents have objected because the use of blood is shunned by their religion.

  The parents often have been Jehovah's Witnesses, whose beliefs include abstaining from blood, including transfusions, based on a literal translation of the Bible.

  You highlighted the section about the parents and implied disfellowhipping. The article is not saying anything about this particular parent, only that in most cases where judges have had to rule on this issue, that the parents in those cases have often been Jehovah's Witnesses. (In fact, I believe they all have been JWs with the possible exception that they were too new to be baptized, or were, in fact, recently disfellowshipped, or loosely associated through a spouse or perhaps raised in the religion as children but no longer associated.)

  There will be a PR advantage to the Society if this case can be used as proof that they are not the only people refusing blood on religious grounds. This idea is already being leveraged on another JW discussion site which quotes a news source: "While Jehovah's Witnesses are one example of religions that discourage blood transfusions, the mother named in the Omaha lawsuit is not a Jehovah's Witness. Thursday, a judge will hear both sides of the case and a decision will be made whether the hospital should proceed with the surgery."

  If I turn on my "mystery-novel-plot-creation device" I could also speculate about a scenario that won't work for the JWs PR Dept:

  What if she isn't a JW, has no interest in JWs, isn't even religious, but is just using the idea as a means of giving up a potentially unwanted baby that is even more unwanted now that the baby has a serious life-threatening heart defect? It would be strange, but the world is full of strange people. Someone in my old congregation, for example, supposedly got her doctor to help her "miscarry" her child who was to be born with Down's Syndrome. That's awful on so many levels I always hoped the rumor wasn't true, but most of the congregation believed it. She was the PO's wife and was therefore never really questioned.

  Gamaliel