Jehovah’s Witnesses stand on blood transfusion will have saved far more lives than it has cost. This is because, here and there, courageous doctors have sought to accommodate it. In doing so, they have made transfusion therapy safer for everyone, either by just not giving one or by using bloodless techniques in its stead. An April 2008 New Scientist article entitled ‘An Act of Faith in the Operating Room,’ reviewed study after study, and concluded that for all but the most catastrophic cases, blood transfusions harm more than they help. In short, the “act of faith” referred to was not withholding a blood transfusion. It was giving one.

We all know blood is a foreign tissue. We all know the body fights to eliminate foreign tissue. Not that such complications can’t be dealt with, but eliminating transfusions where they are unnecessary avoids the problem entirely. Time was when a blood transfusion following surgery was more or less routine, like topping off the tank. It no longer is. Thank Jehovah’s Witnesses for that.

I wrote up a post of the New Scientist article, the first two paragraphs are reproduced here:

“When speaking medicine with someone who doesn’t care for Jehovah’s Witnesses, one finds that “blood transfusion” is always linked with “life-saving.” There are no exceptions. The noun and adjective must never be separated. At least, not until recently. At long last, the link is beginning to crumble. “Life-threatening” is fast emerging as a reality to offset, in part, the “life-saving.” Not among JW detractors, of course, who will still be chanting “life-saving blood transfusions” as they are lowered into their graves. But among those who actually keep up with things, matters are changing fast.

“It is the only conclusion one can reach upon reading the April 26, 2008 New Scientist magazine. Entitled ‘An Act of Faith in the Operating Room,’ an article reviews study after study, and concludes that for all but the most catastrophic cases, blood transfusions harm more than they help. Says Gavin Murphy, a cardiac surgeon at the Bristol Heart Institute in the UK: “There is virtually no high-quality study in surgery, or intensive or acute care, outside of when you are bleeding to death, that shows that blood transfusion is beneficial, and many that show it is bad for you.” Difficulties stem from blood deteriorating in even brief storage, from its assault on the immune system, and from its impaired ability to deliver oxygen. In short, the “act of faith” referred to is not withholding a blood transfusion. It is giving one.”

The remainder of the post, for anyone interested, is found: Here

Of deaths attributed to refusing transfusions, it can never be said than refraining from blood is what killed the patient, since plenty of people die despite being transfused. Of the few who have died where bloodless techniques were not available, that indeed is tragic. Yet people routinely put their lives on the line for all sorts of causes—country, science, often things as frivolous as extreme sports, and they are always lauded for it. Only for an unpopular religion is it condemned. The New Scientist article doesn’t answer every concern regarding transfusion therapy. But it does provide context and helps defuse all the crazies who charge that JW are on a ‘right-to-die’ quest. Their stand has overall vastly improved medicine.

Not to mention how risks from declining transfusions are compensated 1,000 times over in the Witness arena by their no-tolerance policy of tobacco, illicit drugs, and overdrinking. An anti-Witness activist truly interested in preserving life would direct his or her attention almost anywhere else. It offends the sensibilities of any reasonable person to ignore the top 100 causes of death to fixate one’s fury on the 101th, yet that is exactly what anti-Witness “activists” do.

They are very single-minded in that anti-JW world, obsessed with one thing. Should nukes ever be employed, something that the 90-seconds to midnight Doomsday clock suggests, all people everywhere will respond with horror at the news. But on the anti-Witness internet forums, the crazies will be obsessed with how JWs might be using the catastrophe to “manipulate” people into thinking the world is bad.

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