grey matters

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Posts by grey matters

• 
  3

  Blood DVD

  by truthsearcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  can anyone tell me what to expect when watching this?

  what questions could i ask?.

  ts.

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  grey matters

  See the thread above for the text from the new blood video. Is that the one you are talking about:?
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  58

  BIG ELDERS MEETING ON THE BLOOD ISSUE! SHOCKING CHANGES AFOOT!?

  by Gill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have just been informed that something is going in with the blood issue within the borg.. a large meeting is being held this weekend with local elders and also many elders from all over the country/the united kingdom and members from the bethel and hospital liason committee to discuss the blood issue.. is anyone else aware of what this is going to be about?.

  i wondered whether this would be part of the expected or possible changes that the organization is expected to announce this year that might lose them many members.

  any elders here know anything?.

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  grey matters

  Someone just sent me the full text of the new no blood video, so I posted it. See the Blood and Medical forum.
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  19

  Full Text of New Blood Video

  by grey matters in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  the following is the full text of the new blood video, sent to me via a blast email this morning.

  i will post it one page at a time, as i am not sure what the character number limit is for one post.

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  grey matters

  A NEW STANDARD

  A growing number of health care providers are willing

  to meet the challenge of treating patients who avoid

  blood transfusions.

  Prof. Roland Hetzer: "With the development of all

  those techniques, there's nothing really specific

  about Jehovah's Witnesses anymore. We know that they

  don't want blood transfusions and we have the

  technology to follow their wish."

  Dr. Stephen M. Cohn: "The belief that you don't want

  a blood transfusion should not in any way . . . that

  should be a tiny part of the whole medical care

  environment. That should be acknowledged—put over to

  the side, fine—now to the other 99 percent of your

  care!"

  Major Spry—JW spokesman: "I guess it could be likened

  to a patient who is allergic to penicillin. You

  wouldn't expect the physician to say, 'Well, I'm

  sorry, I can't treat you because I can't administer

  penicillin.' No, he simply says, 'We'll give you a

  medical alternative. We'll give you another

  antibiotic.' Then he gets on with treating the

  patient."

  Narrator: This enlightened approach to patient care

  has exciting implications for the public at large.

  Dr. Stephen M. Cohn: "The fact that we couldn't use

  blood in Jehovah's Witnesses, we learned how we

  didn't have to use blood in many other situations.

  So, it has actually propelled us in the right

  direction."

  Dr. Richard K. Spence: "Transfusion alternatives

  clearly, are good medical practice. Sound practice—

  safe practice, for a patient."

  Dr. Linda Shehling: "Indeed it is a standard that

  should be available to all patients."

  Dr. Peter Carmel: "What we're talking about here is

  going to be a mute point, because bloodless medicine

  and surgery will become in the next 5 to 10 years, so

  widespread that, it won't be novel anymore."

  Eugene Rosam—JW spokesman: "Jehovah's Witnesses have

  had the unique privilege, because of their religious

  position on the matter, of helping doctors learn

  better ways to treat patients without subjecting them

  to the risks of blood transfusions."

  Prof. Charles H. Baron: "What I have seen in my own

  experience is that they have turned the medical

  profession around, where the gold standard, is to

  treat people without blood."

  Narrator: Already some 100,000 physicians worldwide,

  are making bloodless medicine and surgery available

  to anyone who does not want a blood transfusion. Many

  experts agree that in the new future medicine and

  surgery without the use of blood transfusions will

  become the standard of care for all patients.

  "There are now available, techniques in almost every

  sub-specialty of surgery and medicine that allow

  bloodless treatment, so that we are getting away from

  blood transfusions in general."

  "As a heart surgeon, I guess it's unusual for a guy

  not to like blood, he should like blood, but I

  don't—I'm very proud when my patient comes out of the

  operation room, and has not received any

  transfusion."

  "I can see within the next few years, us getting to a

  point of where we do not have to even think about

  getting blood."

  [THE END]
• 
  19

  Full Text of New Blood Video

  by grey matters in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  the following is the full text of the new blood video, sent to me via a blast email this morning.

  i will post it one page at a time, as i am not sure what the character number limit is for one post.

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  grey matters

  CASE HISTORIES

  Leslie Lacks had just begun elementary school when it

  became apparent that she had a degenerating spinal

  deformity. Doctors diagnosed Leslie's condition as a

  severe form of Scoliosis.

  Dr. Tarek Mardam-Bey: "Scoliosis is a curvature of

  the spine, so we have to correct it as much as the

  spine's flexibility allows us."

  Narrator: After a brace failed to correct her

  condition, doctors recommended an extensive surgical

  procedure.

  Dr. Tarek Mardam-Bey: "We used essentially a series

  of hooks and metal rods made out of stainless steel,

  that are implanted in the patient's back, and are

  used essentially to distract the spine and achieve

  alignment."

  Narrator: The Lacks wanted the surgery performed

  without a blood transfusion. So they found a surgical

  team that had experience using bloodless techniques.

  Before the surgery, Leslie's doctors boosted her

  blood through the use of iron and recombinant

  erythropoetin.

  Dr. Tarek Mardam-Bey: "So it was essential that we do

  the surgery without excessive blood loss. The way

  that we were able to achieve this is using two

  techniques basically. One of them is called the cell

  saver. The other technique we used is called

  hemodilution. It is safer in that, it's the patient's

  own blood and its has remained in continuous

  circulation with the patient, so there's no chance

  for contamination or blood transmitted diseases.

  Narrator: The surgery was a success, and no blood

  transfusion was administered! Within days, Leslie was

  up and walking.

  Bobbie Lacks: "She's so happy. She can completely

  stand, now she says, 'Mommy, I'm almost as tall as

  you now!'

  Narrator: Although Leslie will have to wear a brace

  for a while—doctors are confident she will lead a

  normal life.

  Leslie Lacks: "I'd like to skate, and skateboard,

  maybe learn how to snowboard, . . .stuff like that!"

  Narrator: Sometimes alternative strategies involve

  new surgical techniques to reduce blood loss in

  patients that don't want a transfusion. 75 year-old

  Dorothy McPhee suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm,

  a life threatening condition, that traditionally

  requires extensive surgery.

  Dr. Herbert Dardik: "The normal way of doing this

  operation is, generally through the abdomen, a long

  vertical incision from the lower chest down to the

  pubic area, having to work around and behind the

  entire intestinal tract. Hospitalization ranging—at

  best, days, 4 or 5 days, to averaging a week or even

  more—presuming that there are no operative

  complications."

  Narrator: Since Dorothy is one of Jehovah's

  Witnesses, her physicians used a surgical technique

  that minimizes bleeding.

  Dr. Herbert Dardik: "What we did today is called

  endovascular aortic surgery. Essentially that's;

  Endo—meaning we are working within the artery.

  Through that artery we place our catheters, our

  wires, all the instruments that we steal right up to

  where the aneurysm is. And then we can visualize the

  aneurysm by doing coroscopy, x-ray technology.

  Narrator: Dorothy's doctors inserted a wire mesh

  called a stint, and were thus able to repair her

  aorta without a large surgical incision that would

  have caused a lot of bleeding.

  Dr. Herbert Dardik: "A small incision through the

  groin, all the manipulation through that—a virtually

  pain-free, complication-free, in post-operative, of

  course—home, generally in 24-hours—so, everybody's a

  winner!

  Dorothy McPhee: "I feel fine! I never would have

  believed it, but I do!"

  Narrator: Two days after her surgery, Dorothy was

  sent home. She recovered nicely!
• 
  19

  Full Text of New Blood Video

  by grey matters in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  the following is the full text of the new blood video, sent to me via a blast email this morning.

  i will post it one page at a time, as i am not sure what the character number limit is for one post.

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  grey matters

  STIMULATE BLOOD PRODUCTION

  Narrator: "A key element in stimulating the body's

  ability to replenish its own blood supply is a

  hormone called erythropoetin.

  Dr. Blair Siefert: "Erythropoetin is a natural

  substance. It is formed in the kidneys, other organs

  as well, but primarily the kidney, to help our bone

  marrows to form the red blood cells that are going to

  carry our oxygen."

  Narrator: Blood cell production takes place primarily

  in the sternum, the ribs, the vertebra, and the

  pelvis. Recombinant Erythropoetin boosts the body's

  natural production of red blood cells.

  Dr. Nicholas Namais: "So if I know the patient is

  going to be in the hospital a long time, I may start

  them on some recombinant erythropoetin so they can

  start building up their own blood storage."

  Prof. Francesco Mercuriali: "This can be a very cost

  effective strategy, to reuse the utilization of

  allergenic blood transfusion."

  Dr. Richard K. Spence: "One of the most exciting

  things about this whole field, is that the majority

  of things that we talk about is within the reach of

  physicians and hospitals around the world."

  Dr. Peter Carmel: "There are now available,

  techniques in almost every sub-specialty of surgery

  and medicine that allow bloodless treatment."

  Major Spry—JW spokesman: "Alternatives, like any

  other therapy, are not necessarily, free from risk.

  So a patient, a Witness patient in particular, may

  want to become informed about the benefits and the

  risks that are associated with any particular

  treatment."

  Dr, Edwin A. Deitch: "They should be a prudent

  consumer."

  Narrator: How effective are these alternative

  strategies in helping doctors treat patients who do

  not want blood transfusions?
• 
  19

  Full Text of New Blood Video

  by grey matters in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  the following is the full text of the new blood video, sent to me via a blast email this morning.

  i will post it one page at a time, as i am not sure what the character number limit is for one post.

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  grey matters

  Prof. Johannes Scheele: "The fibrin tissue adhesive

  is certainly very, very useful because it does not

  harm the tissue."

  Dr. Nicholas Namais: "In a Jehovah's Witness, where

  the blood loss is so, so, so critical, I think you

  have to be very, extremely meticulous not to lose

  even a drop of blood."

  CONSERVE RED BLOOD CELLS

  Dr. Peter Carmel: "There are new technologies of

  hemodilution and reinfusion, that make the operation

  easier, and which are acceptable to people who have a

  religious precept against blood transfusion."

  Dr. Linda Shehling: "The principles of hemodilution,

  in terms of reduction of blood loss, are really quite

  simple."

  Dr. Concha Lewand: "Basically, we do the closed

  circuit on the patient. We draw off blood from the

  patient—keep it in contact with the patient—and

  substitute it with fluids."

  Prof. Donat R. Spahn: "That results in a diluted

  blood, and therefore, the patient looses only diluted

  blood, rather than native, or concentrated blood."

  Dr. Linda Shehling: "When the patient bleeds

  interoperatively, the red cell lose is less."

  Dr. Herbert Dardik: "It would be like taking a quart

  of milk and turning it. . . or adding water so that

  you have 3 gallons of it now, but the original quart

  is still in there. But if you were to spill it into

  something, it would be a lot of water—and a fraction

  of the milk—then at the end, you get rid of the

  water, and then you're back where you started."

  Dr. Aryeh Shander: "And we use that routinely in

  this institution, especially for those patients who

  have anticipated significant blood loss."

  Dr. Concha Lewand: "I think that's nowadays,

  besides—I think that for Jehovah's Witnesses it’s a

  pretty good standard of care for large volume loss

  surgery."

  RECOVER LOST BLOOD

  Dr. Richard K. Spence: "If we do loose blood, this

  is the kind of case where we'll use a cell saver. We

  will suction up any blood that's lost—we wash it, we

  clean it, we process it, we filter it—and then we'll

  give it back to you."

  Prof. Donat R. Spahn: "Cell salvage is a very

  important technique, because when you use cell

  salvage, the blood lost by the surgeon is not lost

  for the patient."

  Prof. Johannes Scheele: "In any trauma patient with a

  significant blood loss, I would, always, prepare the

  cell saver system."
• 
  19

  Full Text of New Blood Video

  by grey matters in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  the following is the full text of the new blood video, sent to me via a blast email this morning.

  i will post it one page at a time, as i am not sure what the character number limit is for one post.

  1. 
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  3. 
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  grey matters

  Prof. Neil Blumberg: "We've become persuaded, over

  the years, that many of the bad things that happen to

  patients after surgery, are in fact, not bad luck,

  are not a lack of surgical skills, but are in fact,

  the complications of transfusions."

  ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES

  Narrator: These concerns have spurred a wide range of

  alternative strategies, treatments that are

  acceptable to many of Jehovah's Witnesses, an others

  who also choose to avoid blood transfusions.

  Alternative strategies can be grouped around four

  organizing principles.

  [Minimize Blood Loss;
  Conserve Red Blood Cells;
  Stimulate Blood Production;
  Recover Lost Blood]

  Prof. Donat R. Spahn: "That involves an aesthetic

  factor, it involves the use of certain substances,

  and certainly involves also the surgical technique."

  MINIMIZE BLOOD LOSS

  Prof. Johannes Scheele: "The most important technique

  to control bleeding is to avoid bleeding. . . . so

  that with less bleeding during surgery, the result of

  that is better, and the outcome is more likely to be

  smoother."

  Dr. Richard K. Spence: "Careful surgery means

  preventing blood loss. Age is no factor. We have

  operated on newborns, we have operated on people in

  their 90s."

  Dr. Mark E. Boyd: "The surgeon who operates without

  losing large amounts of blood, is almost invariably a

  good and careful surgeon. One who loses large amounts

  of blood is most often, the reverse."

  Narrator: A variety of instruments are now available

  to help surgeons minimize bleeding.

  Dr. Nicholas Namais: "There are strategies for inter

  -operatively using electrocautery instead of

  scalpels."

  Prof. Johannes Scheele: "If there is some bleeding

  persisting, there are coagulation techniques. The

  best of which is, at the moment, Argon-Beam

  Coagulator."

  Narrator: There are non-invasive tools that enable

  the surgeon to see inside the body, minimizing

  surgical incisions.

  Dr. Richard K. Spence: "You can use drugs, topical

  application of different products that will help

  prevent blood loss."

  Prof. Roland Hetzer: "We have now, several methods

  available, like the 'fibrin glue' . . .

  Narrator: Fibrin glue made from blood fractions

  stimulates coagulation upon contact.
• 
  19

  Full Text of New Blood Video

  by grey matters in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  the following is the full text of the new blood video, sent to me via a blast email this morning.

  i will post it one page at a time, as i am not sure what the character number limit is for one post.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  grey matters

  Dr, Edwin A. Deitch: "Then you don't deliver blood to

  the brain or the other organs and a person can die."

  Dr. Nicholas Namais: "And what you need to do is

  restore volume, restore profusion, and restore

  oxygenation."

  Dr, Edwin A. Deitch: "A way of correcting that

  decrease in blood volume is by giving other fluids

  intravenously. This can be done using any one of a

  number of fluid types, and doesn't necessarily

  require blood."

  CHANGING ATTITUDES

  Narrator: Increasing numbers of patients are opting

  to avoid blood transfusions for personal reasons.

  Prof. Lawrence T. Goodnough: "If you've ever had a

  conversation with a patient the night before surgery,

  and you were to ask them if they had a preference,

  would they prefer to avoid a blood transfusion, the

  answer is always, 'Yes.'"

  Prof. Roland Hetzer: "I would say that today, at

  least 80 percent of the patients, would strongly

  favor not to have blood transfusions."

  Prof. Francesco Mercuriali: "Blood transfusion,

  traditionally considered a normal adjunct to surgery,

  presently is considered something that has to be

  avoided."

  Dr. Willem de Groot: "There are real risks as far as

  transfusions are concerned."

  Dr. Gerard A. Kaiser: "There are concerns about blood

  bore pathogens, and certainly the concern about

  AIDS."

  Dr. Richard K. Spence: "It's a biological product. It

  can have diseases, etc. We screen for most of them,

  but there are some there we just don't know about."

  Prof. Neil Blumberg: "We've certainly seen some

  horrendous new diseases in the form of HIV come along

  that probably didn't exist in the past. Whether the

  next disease will come along in ten weeks, ten years,

  or a hundred years, nobody can say."

  Dr. Concha Lewand: "We have Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B,

  transmitted, and the social costs of that are very

  high."

  Dr. Todd K. Rosengart: "There are transfusion

  reactions that occur, they are very rare, but they

  can potentially dangerous or even life-threatening."

  Dr. Richard K. Spence: "We could mix the blood up and

  cause a catastrophe. Patients have died and do die

  from getting the wrong blood."

  Prof. Donat R. Spahn: "It is interesting to realize

  now, that during the late 90s or early 2000s that the

  blood transfusion, to a certain extent, does not do

  what we always used blood transfusions for."
• 
  19

  Full Text of New Blood Video

  by grey matters in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  the following is the full text of the new blood video, sent to me via a blast email this morning.

  i will post it one page at a time, as i am not sure what the character number limit is for one post.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  grey matters

  Dr. Mark E. Boyd: "That's an oversimplification of

  the . . . of the tragic event."

  Dr. Peter Carmel: "It's rarely, if ever, the case

  that a patient refused a blood transfusion and

  therefore died."

  Dr. Aryeh Shander: "People die because of either a

  medical disease, or a consequence of trauma, or

  surgery where there has been complications."

  Dr. Hooshang Bolooki: "I can tell you I have done

  over 200 Jehovah's Witness patients. I have never

  lost a patient because I could not give the patient

  blood."

  Narrator: Why then does blood transfusion remain the

  standard treatment for serious blood loss?

  Dr. Peter Carmel: "I think that physicians have been

  brought up with the idea that blood is the 'gift of

  life,' and that inherently, blood is good for you."

  Dr. Avroy Fanaroff: "The refusal to accept a blood

  transfusion bothers and concerns many physicians

  because they're worried that without the transfusion,

  the well-being of the patient is jeopardized."

  Narrator: To appreciate fully why physicians feel

  this way, one needs to understand a little about

  blood and why transfusions are given.

  THE FLUID OF LIFE—BLOOD

  Blood circulates through the body by means of an

  amazingly intricate system of conduits called veins

  and arteries. Arteries carry oxygenated blood away

  from the heart, eventually branching into tiny

  vessels called capillaries. These deliver the oxygen

  -rich red blood cells to every part of the body.

  Nutrients and oxygen are exchanged for carbon dioxide

  and other wastes at the cellular level. Veins then

  transport the oxygen-depleted blood back to the heart

  which pumps it to the lungs. There the carbon dioxide

  is exchanged for oxygen and the cycle begins anew.

  This cycle is absolutely essential to life.

  Dr. Nicholas Namais: "If there's no blood to bring

  the oxygen to the cells, the cell dies—the body dies!

  Narrator: When someone suffers severe blood loss,

  Doctors have two urgent priorities.

  Dr, Edwin A. Deitch: "The most critical immediate

  need is to stop the bleeding."

  Dr. Nicholas Namais: "Everything takes 'backseat' to

  stopping the bleeding."

  Dr. Stephen M. Cohn: "And number 2, is to restore

  the volume within your system."

  Narrator: "What can happen when a patient looses too

  much blood volume
• 
  19

  Full Text of New Blood Video

  by grey matters in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  the following is the full text of the new blood video, sent to me via a blast email this morning.

  i will post it one page at a time, as i am not sure what the character number limit is for one post.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  grey matters

  Prof. Edward Keyserlingk: "I think the effort has to

  be made to remove the perception that Jehovah's

  Witnesses are somehow in a category by themselves."

  Dr. Aryeh Shander: "Clearly, you can point to many

  religions, they all have one issue or another, with

  which you may or may not agree, but that's not the

  issue."

  Dr. Peter Carmel: "If this is a religious precept,

  this is not illogical stubbornness. This is a

  religious belief. And just as I respect the religious

  beliefs of many other religions, I think I have to

  respect that."

  THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE TREATMENT

  David C. Day, Q.C.: "All patients, as a general rule,

  have the right to receive treatment or to refuse to

  receive that treatment, after they've had full, open,

  and candid discussion with the treating physician.

  Prof. Oliver Guillod: "I believe that the basic

  element of patient's rights is the right of self-

  determination. That is, the right of any patient to

  decide what shall be done to his or her own body."

  Narrator: Patients' rights not withstanding, some

  have claimed that declining, what they say, is 'life

  -saving medical treatment,' is irrational.

  Prof. Timothy W. Harding: "It's wrong to equate a

  refusal of treatment with suicide, which is a

  conscious choice to end one's life."

  Prof. Edward Keyserlingk: "There is always a

  legitimate question about a patient's competence. But

  just the mere refusal of blood, in itself, is not any

  kind of such indication."

  Dr. Stephen M. Cohn: "I don't believe that refusal of

  treatment is irresponsible or irrational. I think

  that just because one person chooses to not to take

  this pill, or that fluid, this kind of solution, is

  their own personal choice."

  Dr. Nicholas Namais: "We have patients who say that

  they don't want to be on a mechanical ventilator,

  they don't want a breathing tube."

  Dr. Mark E. Boyd: "It's an everyday even, for a

  patient who has a malignancy or cancer, to refuse

  some treatment of other. They don't want to have

  chemotherapy, they don't want to have radical

  surgery, so the idea that patient's refuse treatment,

  is something that I work with, not take it . . . I

  don't take it as a personal insult."

  Narrator: These facts are often obscured by news

  stories claiming that someone died because he refused

  a blood transfusion.

  Dr. Aryeh Shander: "To say that one has died because

  of refusal of blood, I think is a very general

  misleading statement."