Do "Thousands of JWs die each year" because they refuse blood? I say YES!

http://www.freeminds.org/blogs/musings-of-a-watchtower-insider/thousands-die-each-year.htm l

This blog article is solely my personal opinion, but I have tried to present important material for your consideration because I believe that one life lost to this blood-ban is one too many and there have too many deaths since 1945 and it's time something is done about it. However you think on the subject, just wait until you read the conclusion of my blog article. Oh, by the way, all points of view are important to me and most welcome so I look forward to reading them here on JWN .

Barbara

very well put together Barb - this is one of the issues that forced Sam and I, as parents of two infants, to consider whether we could remain Jehovah's Witnesses in all good conscience. The answer was no.

If anything can make a Jehovah's Witness wake up to the 'making it up as we go along' new light BS then the forthcoming change in blood policy strongly hinted at could be it.

Bring on summer 2010. 

Hi Barbara. As a very reasonable blog, I applaud what you wrote.

I have not invested a great deal of time thinking this through. On the couple of occasions (not counting today) that I have visited the subject in my mind, I have to admit that the claim "thousands of JW's die each year from refusing blood" didn't seem reasonable to me.

Your blog has given me pause to rethink it.

I noted in your anecdotal examples something that JW's try to do when arguing in defense of their blood teaching, that JW's didn't die from blood transfusions, but because they had something else go wrong. In other words, blood or not, there was nothing anyone could have done.

That is so misleading, yet, I know it is a rhetorical tactic used by the GB to explain away their own culpability regarding JW's who die as a result of this ridiculous blood doctrine.

Your point regarding the difficulty in documenting why a person dies in a hospital setting is well taken. While many of the examples you gave were of those up in years, the point is, those who are old can live even longer and even have their medical conditions treated were the JW handcuffs taken off doctors.

In the end though, to make this claim is to try and direct media attention to the problem. It is unreasonable to expect, imo, that the GB would ever change their stance, because it would just open them up to too many lawsuits. However, any information that gets out their that a JW can get their hands on and cause them to think and rethink their personal decisions on blood medicine could very well save lives......

Regardless of exactly how many die each year due to the JW blood doctrine (and I am sure it is substantial), the fact remains that thousands of JW's are harmed each year, and have resulting shorter life spans, as a result of the JW ban on blood transfusions.

Thanks for putting that together Barb.  This hits close to home, as I lost a family member a few months ago, in part because of the blood doctrine.   I hope the bastards in the Ivory Tower burn in hell for all the misery and heartache they've caused by forcing people to commit suicide rather than accept a transfusion.    As far as I'm concerned, the Governing Body members are 1000 times worse than Dr. Kevorkian, who at least only did assisted suicides with terminally ill patients who had no hope of recovering.  Since the GB more or less force people into committing suicide, why aren't they all in prison??

While there is no clear data available, it stands to reason that older JW's often would be able to survive a wee bit longer if they took blood when faced with some type of medical emergency.  Many would survive long enough to have some quality of life, others perhaps long enough to get their affairs in order and stop shunning their adult children/grandchildren. 

It is fair to say that patients dying instead of going under the knife because of the blood issue cannot always be tabulated because of health information privacy issues and lawsuits.  And in the case of patients dying in an operating room or shortly afterward, the privacy is only one issue and the generality of death reports is another.  Who knows why each one died?  What person would plainly write: He died because he refused a blood transfusion. ?  No, his blood count, the strain on his immune system, his age, the extent of the injuries. 

I am sickened by the thought that one death too many results.  I may have to contend with my wife's wishes one day.  I hope not. 

Thank you, Barbara!

I hope against hope that "Kitty" is correct about the "new light" in allowing blood soon... but you and I both know that it won't be "that easy".  The ones who have been faithful Witnesses for decades won't consider a blood transfusion, anyway... just like most of them are not taking the newly allowed "fractions".  However, it would certainly be a step in the right direction (a step which will come far too late to save my own beloved Father.)

I have no reason to doubt that this dogma causes thousands of deaths, yes, perhaps thousands each and every year.  Surely every surgery is a higher risk without the possible option of a transfusion, even as an emergency back-up plan.  Every time one of my Witness family members is admitted to a hospital, I cringe in fear that this cult will take yet another of my loved ones.

Thank you so very much, Dear Barbara, for all you do.

Love,
Baba.

I am happy to tell you that my daughter chose to LIVE!!!  My daughter, just two days after giving birth and just a few hours after being released from the hospital had a sudden and massive loss of blood.  She was rushed back to the hospital and told the hospital staff that she was a JW and would not take blood.  As her condition worsened and I mean her lips went completely white the Drs. told her "you are in serious trouble".  She turned to he husband and wisely said, "I want to raise my son", please don't let me die.

They took her to surgery and stopped the bleeding but were unsure if she had brain damage or not.  When her husband saw her come out of surgery, intebated and unable to breathe on her own, he consented to Blood.  After 6 bags of red blood cells, two white and a bag of plasma, her blood level came up to 24.  She was not transfused but infused, this is what they do to trauma patients as there is no time for a drip.

Today her son is 19 months old and he has his beautiful momma.  If she has "obeyed" she would have DIED at age 27.

I would like to comment on this since this is very dear to my heart.  As my wife is about to be dunked and committed to slave for the organization, I will always be concerned about the possibility that I myself or worse, my daughter, will be in a situation where blood is needed to save life.  I spoke with my wife's book study elder and he told me that there were laws protecting the minors.  (WHEW)  But I guess I still need to be on guard in case my wife and some of new JW friends decides to circumvent the laws or 'conveniently' forgets to tell the doctors about them.

I hope they come out with some 'new light' on this, anything is welcomed.

I guess my real point is....ONE life is TOO many!!! 

Peg

I am so very, very happy for you, your daughter, and her family, Peggy!  She is one precious life saved from their blood-stained hands.

Love,
Baba.

Peggy, thank you for your story. It made me cry and smile together!!

Barbara, excellent work as always, from an incredible and ethical woman. May I ask a favor -- could you fix the In Conclusion section please? I want to send your article to a relative, but the ending is confusing (you mention a post by "Wendy" but there is no post by Wendy, and then Jman's post, although excellent, is very long and not indented, so to the reader it appears after a while to be your own words, and yet he is talking as very much a current JW so it's clearly not you.) My advice would be to differentiate the quotes somehow, and then conclude and sign off as yourself at the end?

Sorry to be critical, but I hope it's constructive.

There are, I assume, very few, if any , statistics about JWs dying because they refuse blood. So, as it was put by another poster, we are here on the terrain of opinions and conjectures. Is record kept of all the people throughout the world who died because of transfusions ? of course not, big companies involved in blood trade will see to it.

I'm not trying here to defend the WTS's stand on blood because it is evident that this stand has been motivated by the policy of calling the attention of the public opinion to JWs at all cost, and it has been modified over the years according to its legal consequences on the org's finances, because of the threat of prosecutions. I'm just pointing out that refusing blood transfusions happens to have been a protection for many a JW (and, as I heard it, many doctors too, they are not ignorant, those). Up to each one of us to infere, or not, that this God's command was not so bad after all.   

On another side, Barbara Anderson has done a tremendous job in exposing the peadophilia problem, and its covering up within the WTS, that is to be put to her credit. As far as I know (may be wrong), I understand that it was this factor, not blood related qualms, which determined her leaving bethel and caused her DFing.  Now, as an ex (de facto) JW, I wonder, do we have to ride any anti JW horse ?   

I would like to raise a question about the Hospital Liaison Committees, and the "permitted" blood fractions. Is there a list anywhere of all fractions permitted by the Governing Body? I have yet to see a list like this on the internet, and yet we know somehow that some or most fractions are permitted.

If ordinary JW's or their family members cannot find such a list, do the HLC members have such a list? If they do, can this list be made available to other people please? If they don't, then what is the point of a Hospital Liaison Committee? Do they just say "no blood no blood, only saline volume expanders allowed"? or do they really have inside knowledge of the current "light" on fractions? If so, this "light" should be available to everybody!!!!

I truly would like to see a current and complete list of blood parts "permitted" to Jehovah's Witnesses, as I'm sure would many people who have loved family members enslaved by this blood-guilty organization.

Anybody?

Now, as an ex (de facto) JW, I wonder, do we have to ride any anti JW horse ?   

Aligot Ripounsous, I think with most ex-JW's there are one or two things that open our eyes. For some it is doctrinal, for some it is social, for others it's procedural, for some it is intensely personal, and for yet others it's just a realization that we don't want to be in an apocalyptic cult. Different for all of us, but thank god for our eyes being opened.

But once our eyes are wide open we can start to appreciate the complete extent of the crap and manipulation. Then the extent of horse-riding you want to do is entirely up to YOU!

Hi Barb,

An excellent article!  Let's hope that the GB do cast some of their unholy "new light" on the blood issue this year.  If they truly want to be in the business of saving lives, this is the one useful thing they could do.

I think I noticed a typo in the article:

"73 year old Jehovah's Witness “Doe” went into the hospital because he wasn’t feeling well. Tests reveled his descending heart aorta was tearing and there was some bleeding. Doctors in a small town hospital tried to repair the aorta even though they were aware that blood transfusions were usually necessary during this type of surgery. Complications arose when a caterercatheter that was put into his bladder was seen to have punctured his prostate gland and it was bleeding. By this time Jehovah's Witness “Doe” had lost 1/3 of his blood and his condition was not stable so the aorta operation could not continue. If the Jehovah's Witness had been willing to have blood transfusions, the aorta and prostrate could have been repaired during the operation, but since he was not stable the procedure stopped."

Just in case others post answers here pertinent to Barbara's thread:

We'll never know the total number but for one person to die is heart breaking enough.

My father died this way.

What more is their to say.

Marking to read for later.  Thanks Barbara!  I have often contemplated, if it were possible to document all of the deaths caused by the WTS blood and medical treatment policies over the years, just how massive this would be.   

 I lost a family member a few months ago, in part because of the blood doctrine.  

(((( Mary ))))    I also lost someone, a cousin, years ago because of this policy.  She had 3 children.  She was beautiful.   

I believe the statistical probabililty that thousands of JW's die each year is compelling. The acceptance of blood fractions is, I hope, the first step in a change of policy. Maybe autologous blood transfusions will be the next step, this will certainly reduce the risks during a planned surgical procedure. The problems really arise during emergency procedures and that's where you here the old "He probably would have died even if had broken the gods law on blood" tripe. This total disregard for human life makes me sick.

Well done Barbara !

Whether your guess as to the number is close or not, to get more publicity for these needless deaths is a great thing to do.

"Which religion causes more deaths than Terrorists, every year ?" may be another way of presenting it.

Well done, keep up the good work.

love

Wobble

p.s another typo in that bit that MM highlighted it should be PROSTATE gland, not prostrate,