June 27, 3019/Italy - Doctors at Two Major Medical Conferences in Italy Show Interest in Transfusion-Alternative Strategies - Continue

"For years Jehovah's Witness patients have been a part of my professional experience.  Over the last few years, the Working Group for the document on refusal of blood transfusion of  the SIAARTI Study Group on Bioethics has worked to provide guidelines to anesthesiologists, enabling them to take a unified position in the face of complex surgical and anesthesiological conditions with regard to patient's  pathology and comorbidity.  The document makes it explicit that 'the right of self-determination in relation to health care is a fundamental right of the person guaranteed by the Constitution (articles 2, 13, and 32), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Oviedo Convention, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union." - Antonio Corcione, coordinator of the regional transplant center for the former president of the Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation, and Intensive Care ( SIAARTI) 

" My experience with Jehovah's Witnesses motivated me and all my colleagues to refine blood-saving and postoperative management techniques in order to limit the need for transfusion support.  This path has certainly benefited some people who expressed their refusal of blood transfusions, but also allowed us  to avoid blood transfusions in many other patients who were willing to accept them." -Ugo Boggi, full professor of general surgery at the University of Pisa (Italy), adjunct associate professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburg (USA), president-elect of the Italian Society for Organ  Transplantation (SITO) 

"Liver transplant is the most complex of all. It is two, three, or four times more complex compared to other transplants, and there is a high risk of bleeding. Despite this, because we have  scientific evidence from thousands of cases worldwide, with tens of thousands of liver transplant cases, we can say that we know how to avoid blood transfusions.  The vast majority of our liver surgeries, even liver surgery, blood transfusions are now an exception  because we have switched from a less precise   surgery, which was used a few years ago, to a type of microsurgery that monitors each vessel.  I have to thank Jehovah's Witnesses because they opened the way to something which we hadn't paid much attention to 10 or 15 years ago-the blood-saving topic." - Umberto Cillo, full professor of general surgery and director of the hepatobiliary and liver transplant unit at the  University of Pudua, president of the Italian Society for Organ transplantation (SITO)

"I appreciate Witness patients very much because the unshakable faith in their beliefs is admirable.  And this is one of the reasons why, over the years, I have always tried to make adjustments in order to please them.  I consider them people worthy of the highest regard.  Jehovah's Witnesses are not people who want to die or be martyrs at all; they are people who look for quality medical care." - Francesco Corcione, full professor  of surgery at the University of Naples Federico II, president emeritus of the Italian Society of Surgery (SIC) , honorary member of the Academie Nationale de Chirurgie, Paris, France.

Next time: June 27, 2019/Italy - Doctors at Two Medical Conferences in Italy Show Interest in Transfusion-Alternative Strategies - Conclusion

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