As I understand, the BIG NEWS tidal wave is picking up steam. The snail mail copies of the Journal of Church & State's article are just now starting to arrive, and all are just now beginning to digest it. I got mine, and there are about 18 misrepresentations in it! It's a fabulous, and a must read. Here's what www.ajwrb.org had to say. Just look at the misrepresentations in the bullets below!
**** Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation
An essay entitled, "Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation," found in Baylor University’s peer reviewed Journal of Church and State’s Autumn 2005 issue, exposes the vulnerability of the Watchtower Society to tort claims because of the religion’s misrepresentations of secular writers. This cutting edge legal essay critically examines one of the religion’s main publications dedicated to the blood doctrine, How Can Blood Save Your Life?. How Can Blood Save Your Life? dedicates pages to the thoughts of secular writers on the benefits of abstaining from blood. As late as December 2005, the Watchtower Society’s Kingdom Ministry recommended that its followers use How Can Blood Save Your Life to teach their children about the blood doctrine in order that their children will be able to articulate their stance in court. The essay details the misrepresentations in How Can Blood Save Your Life, by analyzing the following quotes against the original author’s (or court’s) words to determine if they are taken out of context to the point of creating a dishonest secular argument that bolsters the Watchtower Society's religious belief.
Writers: · Joseph Priestley,
The Theological and Miscellaneous Works of Joseph Priestley, vol. 2, · Eusebius of Ceasarea,
The Ecclesiastical History, Book V ·
Tertullian’s The Apology of Tertullian—Chapter IX” (Merton College, Oxford for Parker & Co 1890); · Paul J. Voogt et. al., “Perioperative Blood Transfusion and Cancer Prognosis,”
Cancer · John S. Spratt, MD, “Blood Transfusions and Surgery for Cancer,”
The American Journal of Surgery · Tarter, “Blood transfusion and infectious complication following colorectal cancer surgery,” 790 · · Altman, M.D., “Scientist Fear that a Paras! ite Will Spread in Transfusion”
New York Times · Altman, MD., “Quandary for Patients: Have Surgery, or Await Test for Hepatitis C?”
New York Times, · Bruce Lambert, “4 Cases Found of Rare Strain of AIDS Virus—Standard Test Fail to Detect the HIV-2,”
New York Times · Jerry Kolins, MD and Leo J. McCarthy, MD,
Contemporary Transfusion Practice (American Association of Blood Banks 1987) · , and ,
Contemporary Transfusion Practice · P.J. Howell and P.A. Bamber, “Severe acute anaemia in a Jehovah Witness,”
Anaesthesia · James A. Stockman III, MD., “
Anemia of Prematurity Current Concepts in the Issue of When to Transfuse,” Pediatric Clinics of · B. Kaufman, “A Single-Center Experience of Renal Transplantation in Thirteen Jehovah Witnesses,”
Transplantation Court Cases ·
Parham v. J.R., 442 584 (1979) (US Supreme Court). ·
In re Hofbauer, 47 N.Y. 2d 648 at 655 (NY Ct. of Appeal 1979) (’s ) The essay, “Jehovah’s Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation” does not stop here, but furthers by critically analyzing the Watchtower Society’s current blood policy misrepresentations surrounding the scope of allowed blood products, including hemoglobin and Factor VIII, and autologous blood transfusions, an issue that
www.ajwrb.org has repeatedly shown. The essay’s author, Attorney Kerry Louderback-Wood, wrote this essay after the loss of her elderly mother due, in part, to the Watchtower Society’s blood doctrine. She dedicates the essay to all the children who were harmed by the Watchtower Society’s blood policy! She wrote this essay in the hopes of saving one life. Like the first tobacco cases and Catholic church sex scandal cases, Kerry Louderback-Wood does not expect the first Jehovah’s Witness blood case to easily win. But, this essay is meant to look at where the law could go, if the State were to hold the Watchtower Society’s “freedom to misquote secular material” over the very lives of its citizens. This essay is a must read for anyone facing the blood issue; including followers, doctors, and legal professionals. You may
order your essay, “Jehovah’s Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation” though the Journal of Church and State.
*****
Here's what wickipedia had to say
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses
The question of blood
- Main article: Jehovah's Witnesses and blood
Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept whole blood transfusions. [8] This is based on their understanding of the biblical admonition to "keep abstaining from blood" (based on Acts 15:28, 29).
Although Jehovah's Witnesses do not take "whole blood" in any form including whole blood transfusions, and despite not donating blood, as they believe it must not be stored, they may according to the conscience of the particular individual accept derivatives of blood. Medical Care and Blood - Jehovah's Witness Official Website This includes Hemopure, which is made from cow blood, and PolyHeme, a substitute derived from hemoglobin, a protein found in red blood cells. The Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, provides a detailed list of these specific distinctions.
The refusal of blood transfusions is a significant issue among medical professionals and others concerning Jehovah's Witnesses, especially when it involves minor children. In some countries, laws may impose limitations on physicians on the ability to withhold or withdraw blood transfusions or blood therapy from minors, particularly in life-threatening situations; parents who have prevented children under their care from receiving blood therapy in life-threatening situations may face prosecution. Courts have ordered transfusions for some children, often the very young; in other cases they have respected the declared choice of an under-age minor who is able to defend his or her own beliefs to the court in a manner that reflects a mature understanding and without undue influence from the parents.
Pursuit of medical alternatives to blood transfusion in cases involving Jehovah's Witness patients, including the use of erythropoietin to boost the red blood cell count, has afforded opportunities for medical advancement in the field of bloodless surgery. [9]
A peer-reviewed essay entitled, "Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation," found in the Autumn issue of Baylor University’s Journal of Church and State, published December 13, 2005, discusses the potential vulnerability of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ legal corporations to significant claims for compensation because of the religion’s possible misrepresentation of the medical risks of blood transfusions. According to the essay, constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion do not remove the legal responsibility that every person or organization has regarding misrepresenting secular fact. If actual court cases follow the legal argument suggested by this essay, the total awards to those who have lost relatives as a result of the doctrine could easily total hundreds of millions of dollars, crippling the organization financially. The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses has decided to now issue a new directive on blood to all congregations from January 2006, and this replaces the 1995 directives, which are to be removed from organizational files and "be destroyed". Skeeter1
