HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?

QUALITY ALTERNATIVES TO TRANSFUSION

You might feel, "Transfusions are hazardous, but are there any high-quality alternatives?  A good question, and note the word "quality." 

Everyone, including the Jehovah's Witnesses, wants effective medical care of high quality.  Dr.Grant E. Steffen noted two key elements:  "Quality medical care is the capacity of the elements of that care to achieve legitimate medical and non medical goals." (The Journal of the American Medical Association,  July 1, 1988) "Non medical goals" would include not violating the ethics or Bible-based conscience of the patient. -Acts 15:28, 29.  

Are there legitimate and effective ways to manage serious medical problems without using blood?  Happily, the answer is yes.  

Though surgeons  have claimed that they gave blood only when absolutely necessary, after the AIDS epidemic arose their use of blood dropped rapidly.  An editorial in Mayo Clinic Proceedings (September  1988) said that "one of the few benefits of the epidemic" was that it "resulted in various strategies on the part of the patient and physicians to avoid blood transfusion."  A blood-bank official explains:  "What has changed is the intensity of the message, the receptivity of clinicians to the message (because of an increased perception of  risks), and the demand for consideration of alternatives." -Transfusion Medicine Reviews, October 1989.  

Next time: HOW CAN BLOOD SAVE YOUR LIFE?/Continue with: QUALITY ALTERNATIVES TO TRANSFUSION

From the Watchtower magazine