The Blood That Really Saves Lives

Certain points are clear from the foregoing information.  Though many people view them as lifesaving, blood transfusions are fraught with risks.  Each year thousands die as a result of transfusions, multitudes more get very sick and face long-term consequences.  So, even from a standpoint, there is wisdom right now in heeding the Biblical command to 'abstain from blood.' -Acts 15:28, 29.

Patients are protected from many hazards if they request non-blood medical management. Skilled physicians who have accepted the challenge of applying this on Jehovah's Witnesses have developed a standard of practice that safe and effective, as is proved in numerous medical reports.  Physicians who provide quality care without blood are not compromising valued medical principles.  Rather, they show respect for a patient's right to know risks and benefits so that he can make an informed choice as to what will be done to his body and life.

We are not being naive in this matter, for we realized that not all will agree with this approach. People differ as to conscience, ethics, and medical outlook.  Hence, others, including some doctors, may find it hard to accept a patient's decision to abstain from blood. One New York surgeon wrote:  "I will never forget 15 years ago, as  a young intern when I stood at the bedside of a Jehovah's Witness who bled to death from a duodenal ulcer.  The patient's wishes were respected and no transfusions were given, but I can still remember the tremendous frustration as a physician I felt." 

He no doubt believed that blood would have been lifesaving. The year after he wrote that, however, The British Journal of Surgery (October 1986) reported that prior to the advent of transfusions, gastrointestinal  hemorrhage had "a mortality rate of only 2.5 percent."  Since transfusions became customary, 'most large studies report a 10-percent mortality.'   Why a death rate four time as high?  The researchers suggested:  "Early blood transfusions appears to reverse the hypercoagulable response to haemorrhage thereby encouraging rebleeding."  When the Witness with the bleeding ulcer refused blood, his choice may actually have maximize his prospects for survival. 

Next time: The Blood That Really Saves Lives

From the jw.org publications