Wow that's terrible. I'm sorry for your loss.
Thank you...yes it was terrible. Blood loss is not a pleasant way to go and it was completely unnecessary in my fathers case. He was in a modern hospital with all the equipment necessary to have saved him if only he hadn't been convinced to sign the "no blood" papers put in front of him.
The irony is that my Wife's Father was an American and he was an Elder and a life long JW. He knew what he was doing. He traveled to the bloodless surgery clinic in California that was set up especially to treat JW's. They were unable to boost his blood count in time to save him but at least he got to try something to save himself. But my kindly gentle hard working Father was a foreigner with no family in this country to call him to his senses. He never quite adjusted to living here and was only "studying" the Bible Literature with the JW's because my late Mother (also a foreigner) had become indoctrinated decades before and he wanted live forever in the "new system" with her the rest of us. The only thing he knew about blood transfusions was what he learned during those "studies" (indoctrination sessions). After he died we were assured by the Elders that since he had led an exemplary life and had died upholding Jehovah's laws, we'd most assuredly be seeing him again soon in the resurrection. Nevertheless, they couldn't allow us to hold his memorial at the Kingdom Hall because he was not a baptized JW.
(sorry to hijack this post. I've told my story here before but it's been quite some time ago. I always hope someone lurking (such as a current JW) might be saved from a similar fate or maybe someone at Headquarters will read it and be able to somehow make a change in this deadly and tragic misapplication of the scriptures)