Truly, a huge tragedy. My heart goes out to Mary and the entire family of the young man. Whether or not theyre Watchtower adherents, they must all be feeling a terrible loss. This boy was in the prime of his life.
Lee, you dont explain what prompted Marys divorce (probably for the obvious privacy issues until her divorce is final), but not many marriages survive the loss of a child. In this case, one parent steadfastly follows Watchtower protocol while the other yearns for a way to avoid the inevitable, at first secretly, but with the anguish of the death of ones son, I dont imagine it remained a secret for long. Tragedy upon tragedy. This is really a horrific situation.
Regarding liability/culpability and whether or not this young man would have survived if he had received transfusions, there was a case a couple of years ago in Southern California where a drunk driver hit and killed a Jehovahs Witness woman. This received a lot of news coverage both locally and nationally. There was a piece on 60 Minutes (. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/12/04/national/main24310.shtml).
The woman survived the accident, but refused any transfusions and subsequently died. During the drunk drivers trial, much time was spent arguing whether this man was responsible for the womans death or if she was responsible because she had refused life-saving medical treatment. He was eventually found guilty of manslaughter.
As Lee pointed out, determining whether someone would survive if theyd chosen to be transfused is impossible to say. It all has to do with probabilities. There is the possibility of complications, from the transfusion itself (admittedly very small) and others such as infection.
What is certain, though, is that the Watchtowers policy removes the possibility of life-saving blood transfusions, even when these are the only viable treatment with any possibility of saving the life of someone traumatically injured and bleeding out, or were alternative treatments and bloodless surgery are an impossibility. Much of the world (the part where the Watchtower is making its greatest inroads) does not live with what many in Japan, Europe, the U.S and Canada take for granted. Advanced medical treatments like bloodless surgery or alternative blood products are not even a remote possibility for these people.
I hope that by adding her voice to the chorus of those who have paid the ultimate price for their loyalty to the imperfect men in Brooklyn, Mary can make a difference and that these unnecessary deaths are put to an end.
The even more tragic side to this story is that there will be more Marys, more broken marriages, more suffering and loss, and more innocent lives lost until the Watchtower changes this ignorant and murderous policy.
CPiolo