Posts by Lee Elder

36

White supremacy is an ideology of peace

by OneEyedJoe in

i'm tired of hearing these constant attacks on white supremacists after the events in charlottesville.

why are moderate white supremacists being lumped in together and sharing the blame for the actions of one reprehensible man that misinterpreted the ideals of white supremacy and became violent?

clearly the motivation of such attacks on white supremacists is nothing other than racism.

Watchtower Coercion of Non-JWs

by Lee Elder in

it is widely known that the watchtower coerces compliance with its deadly blood dogma.

a less known fact is that this pressure is further extended to non-believing family members of jw's.

a new story at ajwrb recounts how jw elders nearly cost the life of one unbeliever when he fell gravely anemic.

It is widely known that the Watchtower coerces compliance with its deadly blood dogma. A less known fact is that this pressure is further extended to non-believing family members of JW's. A new story at AJWRB recounts how JW elders nearly cost the life of one unbeliever when he fell gravely anemic. Subscribe at AJWRB to receive the latest updates and experiences.

http://ajwrb.org/jw-elders-pressure-non-believers-to-conform

103

New Research at AJWRB

by Lee Elder in

the latest research article published at ajwrb estimates the number of jehovah's witnesses who have died from following or being coerced to follow watchtower's blood policy.

the numbers are staggering.

http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy.

Lee Elder

Read the article, read the references, read the thread. We haven't made any attempt to do anything other than present a conservative estimate. Not sure what else you'd like me to say. The numbers are what they are. The fact that you find them disturbing probably says more about you then it does about the estimate. Technically, the only thing I have personally done is bring these estimates current through 2016 using the method the original investigators used. Your issue is really with them I think. You'd like to see an estimate that breaks down risk for every type of surgery or illness, year by year, country by country, etc, etc, etc. Wouldn't that be lovely? Of course its impossible to do that, so therefore we should just give the Watchtower Society a pass? Well that is not going to happen. They clearly have thousands upon thousands of deaths they are directly responsible for. We might not be able to come up with an exact figure for how many died in the Civil War, World Wars, Holocaust, etc, etc, etc. We still do our best with the data we have. I think you have to accept that John. Its not a perfect world. We have enough to know that there is a huge problem.

103

New Research at AJWRB

by Lee Elder in

the latest research article published at ajwrb estimates the number of jehovah's witnesses who have died from following or being coerced to follow watchtower's blood policy.

the numbers are staggering.

http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy.

Lee Elder

To characterize what we have published as self professed "gospel" is at the very least a gross mischaracterization that hardly deserves a response. Check the meaning of the word. We have been careful to state that it is only an estimate, and that there are both known and unknown factors that would alter the estimate.

The single greatest limitation of this analysis is that it likely grossly underestimates the actual number of fatalities. Bear in mind, we didn't count as much as one death for the entire period of 1945-1961. A period when "non-blood" alternative therapies did not exist for all practical purposes.

As previously said, please feel free to take a look at what is out there and make your own attempt to use existing studies to estimate the impact. Let's see what you come up with.

103

New Research at AJWRB

by Lee Elder in

the latest research article published at ajwrb estimates the number of jehovah's witnesses who have died from following or being coerced to follow watchtower's blood policy.

the numbers are staggering.

http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy.

Lee Elder

John: If you think you can do a better job. Go for it.

103

New Research at AJWRB

by Lee Elder in

the latest research article published at ajwrb estimates the number of jehovah's witnesses who have died from following or being coerced to follow watchtower's blood policy.

the numbers are staggering.

http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy.

Lee Elder

steve2:

Jehovah's Witnesses have aggressively pursued relationships with the "bloodless" surgery centers (many of which are directed by and employ JW's). High risk patients will almost always be directed to these centers where they can almost be guaranteed to receive the kind of treatment they seek, whether or not it makes sense medically. The probability of involving the authorities is thus significantly muted.

darkspilver:

You correctly note that, "the average number of publishers during the 2016 service year was 8,132,358" and that this number includes children. There are also a large number of JW's who due to age and health are no longer "publishers". Additionally, there are millions of inactive and former JW's, many of whom remain sympathetic towards the blood policy thanks to decades of continual indoctrination and implanted blood phobias. We will always be working with estimates regardless of how hard we try to nail an exact number down. It simply cannot be done. That does not mean that we should not try.

103

New Research at AJWRB

by Lee Elder in

the latest research article published at ajwrb estimates the number of jehovah's witnesses who have died from following or being coerced to follow watchtower's blood policy.

the numbers are staggering.

http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy.

Lee Elder

There are inherent limitations when developing an estimate of something as complex as the Watchtower's partial blood transfusion ban. Of course it would be ideal if we had better data that would permit us to be more exact than we have been. There are both known limitations, and unknown limitations. With respects to Dr. Muramoto's method, here are his written comments to me:

"This kind of extrapolation is used all the time in various advertisements in medical field. Drug A can prevent heart attack 1% better than drug B. Then using other statistics, the drug company of drug A advertises that drug A can save X thousand of lives every year. This advertisement is not necessarily false, but critics are ready to say that it is misleading because those statistics are taken from different contexts, and the advertisement suggests that drug A actually saves X thousand of lives, which is not. So, our campaign is not false as a campaign, but is also rightly criticized as misleading for the same reasons."

With respect to the estimate prepared by Marvin Shilmer, we have fewer limitations. Belieav's data covers a much wider scope than Kitchens which only considered surgery. Belieav's data is related to anemia. Anemia is the great killer of JW's in our experience. The aim of the study was to develop a mortality risk stratification instrument for severely anemic JW patients so as to predict mortality. The JW patients were self identified, and seeking medical care without blood. A total of 10,786 admissions among 3529 JW patients was identified. Of these 108 met eligibility criteria. Their average age was 58.6. 70% of the cases involved surgery. None of the cases involved pediatrics or JW adolescents. It is a reasonable assumption that the study did not include JW women giving birth.

The data is drawn from four major public hospitals in New Zealand from 1998 - 2007. So we are looking at a very high standard of care. We're dealing with JW patients with access to a wide range of high tech alternative therapies that significantly reduce mortality and morbidity in the JW population. It is a given that this standard of care is not available in developing countries, hence it can reasonably assumed that actual mortality and morbidity are significantly higher among the overall JW population.

This is not a perfect study either. It has limitations. It is, however, the best study presently available. If and when better studies become available, we will use those. Even then, however, we will always be making assumptions that can be criticized. I think a good comparison would be with respects to evolution. There are many assumptions made that sometimes turn out to be false. Watchtower and other Creationists can rightly criticize these failure and limitations. None of that, however, alters the fact the evolution is the mechanism by which life forms change, adapt and gradually become other forms of life.

Likewise with our estimate of deaths related to the Watchtower blood policy. We are making assumptions, some of which could be wrong. A host of known and unknown factors could either increase or decrease the true morbidity rate. We suspect that ultimately these factors will tend to increase the estimated annual morbidity of 0.015% - it may be significantly higher. There is a low probability that the unknown factors could decrease the morbidity, but the probability remains.It is our sincere belief that the estimates of Dr. Muramoto, and Marvin Shilmer are reasonably accurate and conservative. We will use and defend them, and if a better study or estimate can be done in the future, we will use it.

103

New Research at AJWRB

by Lee Elder in

the latest research article published at ajwrb estimates the number of jehovah's witnesses who have died from following or being coerced to follow watchtower's blood policy.

the numbers are staggering.

http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy.

Lee Elder

Dr. Muramoto, M.D. is a retired board certified neurologist and medical ethicist, as well as a member of the volunteer faculty at the Center for Ethics in Health Care, Oregon Health and Science University. Dr. Muramoto, Marvin Shilmer, AJWRB and myself have never claimed that these numbers are anything more than an estimate. Your statement that they are "sensationalized" is patently false. Quite to the contrary - they are conservative. If one were to factor in morbidity in 3rd world/developing countries where a significant percentage of Jehovah's Witnesses are found, these numbers would be much, much higher. Same thing applies to trauma, childbirth and chronic diseases of the blood. The numbers related to childbirth alone are simply staggering, and we will be drawing attention to that in the near future. It is time for the world to cut away the camouflage that is created by Watchtower's organizational structure/compartmentalization and see it for the death cult it truly is.

103

New Research at AJWRB

by Lee Elder in

the latest research article published at ajwrb estimates the number of jehovah's witnesses who have died from following or being coerced to follow watchtower's blood policy.

the numbers are staggering.

http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy.

Lee Elder

To Never a JW: No one is disfellowshipped over blood anymore. The WT changed their policy in 2000/2001 in this regard. My guess is that you are looking at an older elder's book. The policy as currently administered includes a recognition that an individual makes it known by his choice to use blood (that is any blood product not currently approved for use) that he is no longer one of JWs, hence disassociation. Same thing that we have with respects to one who joins the military or sends in a letter to the congregation ending his or her participation. You are correct that the elders can make a determination that the person is repentant. That is going to depend on the individuals involved. There are some elders that don't feel its possible to repent from this sin, and probably others like myself who would not have a problem in giving the person a pass.

103

New Research at AJWRB

by Lee Elder in

the latest research article published at ajwrb estimates the number of jehovah's witnesses who have died from following or being coerced to follow watchtower's blood policy.

the numbers are staggering.

http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy.

Lee Elder

Ruby456, et al: I have heavy demands of my time, and declining health. I am going to assume your comments are made in good faith, and do my best to briefly address them. This will, however, be a necessary final attempt.

The references to 150 deaths per year in the U.S. are in fact Dr. Muramoto's. Here is the original estimate that he prepared. In the second paragraph from the bottom, on the right, you will find the numbers in question.

http://ajwrb.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/BloodDeathsMuramoto.pdf

This estimate was prepared by Dr. Muramoto specifically for 2001 annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in San Francisco. I was present along with about a dozen other members of AJWRB. I continue to be in contact with Dr. Muramoto even though he has retired, and he stands by his estimate, as does AJWRB for a multitude of reasons.

If you feel the need to dig deeper to convince yourself, that is understandable. Here is some additional material that addresses many of these issues related to Kitchens study:

http://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/28/risk-blood-transfusion-illegal-breach-confidentiality-addendum-reply-furul

Bear in mind, you are reviewing the work of one of the best experts in this entire field. An author who has been published more times in peer reviewed medical journals than anyone else on this matter. Dr. Muramoto has produced a very, very conservative estimate which is precisely why we use it. It completely ignores all deaths related to the three primary causes of morbidity in JW's related to the blood issue. (Chronic blood disorders, trauma, and child birth). The estimate is certainly on the low side, and the fact that it is reasonable is born out by the study done by Beliaev almost 20 years later. This is actually a much better study for our purpose since it is based strictly on outcome related to anemia.

Clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness of allogeneic red-blood-cell transfusion in severe symptomatic anemia. Beliaev et al. VoxSanguinis 2012 July 103(1):18-24. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22150804

A separate analysis and extrapolation performed independently by AJWRB Science Adviser Marvin Shilmer produced the identical mortality factor derived by Dr. Muramoto, namely 0.015% annually. The studies independently validate one another - you can take that to the bank.

As for any notion that Kitchens may have had about mortality and morbidity related to blood, he frankly admits he didn't know. That is not the case now. Its approximately 100:1 - not enough to materially impact our number in any significant way. The following quote in this regard is from Dr. Muramoto's rapid response in the BMJ listed above:

"The risk of blood transfusion was again extensively reviewed in the "Medical Progress" review in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1999.[6][7] In this progress review, the overall number of deaths from blood transfusion is estimated between 23 and 44 deaths per million units of blood. These numbers include every complication from blood transfusion, not just short-term mortality as in Sazama's report. The short-term mortality which corresponds to Kitchens' estimate should be smaller than these numbers. Thus, a typical blood transfusion of two units carry the risk of 46 to 88 overall deaths per million patients, or 0.0046 to 0.0084%. If a larger amount of blood is transfused, this risk will increase further, to 0.01 to 0.03%.

The accurate number itself is not as important as the magnitude of the risk. Available data indicates that the mortality of refusing blood is close to one hundred times greater than the mortality of being transfused. In the United States alone, about 1.5% of population has conditions requiring blood transfusion each year according to the statistics of the American Association of Blood Banks. That means about 15,000 of Witnesses in the United States will face such conditions each year. Not all of them need transfusion for major surgeries, but suppose half of them had major surgeries, about 7,500 Witnesses have about 1% of additional mortality according to Kitchens. To put this in perspective, 75 Witnesses are dying each year in the United States alone due to refusal of blood transfusion, whereas only about 0.01% of mortality, or life of less than one Witness, is spared by refusing blood transfusion and avoiding transfusion-related death. We never know the exact number of life lost and life saved by refusing blood transfusion. However we can estimate the magnitude of mortality from this practice with reasonable certainty. If we accumulate the above number over the past thirty years and extend to other countries, "hundreds and thousands of deaths from the blood refusal policy" is not at all an exaggeration."