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| Legal Developments An essay entitled, "Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of misrepresentation," found in Baylor University's peer reviewed Journal of Church and State’s Autumn 2005 issue, exposes the vulnerability of the Watchtower Society to tort (liability) claims because of the religion’s misrepresentations of secular writers. This cutting edge legal essay critically examines one of the Society’s main publications dedicated to the blood doctrine, entitled How Can Blood Save Your Life? That brochure dedicates pages to the thoughts of secular writers on the benefits of abstaining from blood. As late as December 2005, the Watchtower Society’s Kingdom Ministry recommended that its followers use How Can Blood Save Your Life? to teach their children about the blood doctrine in order that their children will be able to articulate their stance in court. The essay details the misrepresentations in How Can Blood Save Your Life? by analyzing the many quotes against the original author’s (or court’s) words. The analysis is aimed at determining if the quotes are misused to the point of creating a dishonest secular argument to bolster the Watchtower Society's religious belief. The essay, "Jehovah’s Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation" does not stop here, but continues by critically analyzing the Watchtower Society’s current blood policy misrepresentations regarding the scope of allowed blood products, including hemoglobin and Factor VIII, and autologous blood transfusions, an issue that www.ajwrb.org has repeatedly discussed. The author, Attorney Kerry Louderback-Wood, wrote this essay after the loss of her elderly mother due in part, to the Watchtower Society’s blood doctrine. She dedicates the essay to all the children who were harmed by the Watchtower Society’s blood policy. She wrote this essay in the hopes of saving one life. Like the first tobacco cases and Catholic church sex scandal cases, Kerry Louderback-Wood does not expect the first Jehovah’s Witness blood case to easily win. This essay is meant to examine where and how the law could protect the lives of its citizens by penalizing the Watchtower Society’s misquotations and misrepresentations of secular material. This essay is a must read for anyone facing the blood issue; including followers, doctors and legal professionals. You may order your essay, "Jehovah’s Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation" though the Journal of Church and State.A major article was published this week and is widely available on the Web and in many major newspapers. Is the Watchtower Changing Tactics? The Associated Press recently carried an important article concerning the blood issue. The article focused on an essay written by Kerry Louderback-Wood concerning a possible legal basis for action against the Watchtower Society. Rather than agree to be interviewed by the AP, the WT released a statement prepared by their legal counsel Philip Brumley. It seems to me that Brumley's comment that attorney Kerry Louderback-Wood's criticism "inappropriately trespasses into profoundly theological and doctrinal matters" is the theological equivalent of "playing the race card". The great irony is that Jehovah's Witnesses are well known for trespassing into everyone's religious beliefs on an ongoing basis. Brumley's not so subtle suggestion is that any challenge to the Watchtower's blood policy is a "trespass" i.e. religious intolerance or persecution. The truth of the matter is that the Watchtower Society and its represent- tatives have historically been more than willing to carry on this debate in the media and have repeatedly attempted to defend the doctrine. Many examples can be found on the AJWRB web site. This begs the question, "why the sudden tactical change?" Is Brumley's comment an aberration from the status quo or does it represent a sudden shift in the Watchtowers handling of this matter. We will be monitoring this situation closely. Could Your Child Make a Mature Decision The December Kingdom Ministry article, "Could Your Child Make a Mature Decision" once again reminded Jehovah's Witness parents that they have a responsibility to teach their children the Watchtower's polices on blood i.e. "God's view". It is noteworthy that while the Watchtower cannot satisfactorily answer important questions its policies on blood, it nonetheless demands that Jehovah's Witness children have practice sessions with their parents so they will be prepared to parrot the Watchtower's canned views as explained in the Reasoning book. Some Watchtower leaders believe that courts will routinely grant "mature minor" status to Jehovah's Witness children who are able to proclaim the Watchtower's position as their own. A position which they seek to enforce with coercion and misrepresentation. Physicians, courts and child protection agencies are the last line of defense against the Watchtower's irrational policies on the use of blood products. To quote President Vladimiro of the Constitutional Court of Colombia: "This is a form of murder, moreover, first degree murder...Religious freedom is not absolute, there are limitations, a religion that attempts to claim the life of a person cannot be legally permitted." - Learn more CHILD recently commented on this issue in their newsletter. Their comments are reproduced below: Jehovah’s
Witnesses must coach kids to make mature decisions The December, 2005, issue of Kingdom Ministry, a publication reportedly distributed only to Jehovah’s Witness families, includes an article entitled “Could your child make a mature decision?” The mature decision the church is concerned about is refusing blood transfusions. The article cites an Illinois Supreme Court case, In re E.G., 549 N.E.2d 322 (1989), which ruled that E.G. could refuse transfusions because of clear and convincing evidence that she was “mature enough to appreciate the consequences of her actions [and] to exercise the judgment of an adult.” E.G. was almost 18 years old. What the article does not mention is that the girl had leukemia and her prospects for survival even with optimal medical treatment were rated at 20 to 25%. It also does not mention that several courts have held that a minor does not have a right to refuse medical treatment when necessary to prevent serious harm. See, for example, Commonwealth v. Cottam, 616 A.2d 988 (Pa. 1992), and Commonwealth v. Nixon, 761 A.2d 1151 (Pa. 2000). The Kingdom Ministry authors declare to parents, “You have the responsibility to teach your children God’s view of blood.” It asks parents to “prepare” their children for challenges to “their integrity,” so they will “courageously defend their firm decision” against blood even if doctors believe that their life is in jeopardy and parents are not present. The authors recommend family study of Witness-produced DVDs and print material that have quotes and data drawn from medical literature to bolster the Witnesses’ view that “bloodless medicine and surgery” are safe and effective. The article asks parents to conduct practice sessions with their children so they can explain their beliefs and “make a mature decision that has Jehovah’s blessing.” Attorney Kerry Louderback-Wood argues in “Jehovah’s Witnesses, Blood Transfusions, and the Tort of Misrepresentation,” that the Witness material misrepresents secular facts, including the medical community's assessment of blood-borne disease risks, of alternatives to blood, and of the risks of foregoing a transfusion. Her article appears in the Autumn 2005 (v. 47) issue of Journal of Church and State. A hematologist consulted by CHILD had similar complaints about the Witness literature’s use of data and quotes from physicians. AnnouncementsThe
Watchtower Society
has released a new letter to be read to congregations in the U.S. in
January
2006. Scans of the new letter can be
viewed at: A postscript to the letter instructs Elders to destroy copies of the January 1995 letter on this issue and replace it with the 2006 letter. A scan of the 1995 letter (Elders-only version) can be viewed at: http://www.davidgladden.com/jw/Docs/HLC_1995_01_03_1.pdf Differences between the two letters are negligible. A new
blood
card has
been issued in the UK. Scans of the card
can be viewed at: Reports from AJWRB Members The National Council of Ethics for Life Sciences of Portugal (working under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers) has issued a Report/Advise on the objection on the use of blood for therapeutic ends on religious grounds (in Portuguese, PDF format): http://www.cnecv.gov.pt/NR/rdonlyres/D8C6B039-6F26-460B-9DF5-208D7A2AD743/0/P046RelatorioTestemunhasJeova.pdf http://www.cnecv.gov.pt/NR/rdonlyres/684636A6-FFCD-4C3A-9676-832212D64A28/0/P046ParecerTestemunhasJeova.pdf What the Report/Advise says will almost certainly be followed by hospitals (the report was made at the request of a hospital that asked the Council what to do in these situations). On page 28 (in the References at the end of the report) it cites the article "Why some Jehovah's Witnesses accept blood and conscientiously reject official Watchtower Society blood policy" (J Med Ethics, 2000: 26: 375-380) and Dr. Muramoto's article "Bioethical aspects..." (Brit Med J, 322: 37-39, 2001). The text of the report itself also has many points that seem to come from both articles. This demonstrates that publication of these articles was a very beneficial thing because they are influencing (at least partially) the Ethics boards that are giving hospitals advice on how to treat Jehovah's Witnesses. This report from an AJWRB member in Portugal: In Portugal, we
have some confusion among the brothers, because of the new blood card.
Many don't understand the implications of the choices they have.
Others, despite the permission of taking blood fractions, don't want
to do this because they think that they are blood in biblical sense,
and the prohibition of taking blood is extended to the fractions. Many
elders don't understand this either and many still don't have the new
cards signed.
A new web site addressing the blood issue has recently come online. The original web site is Dutch, but the English language is also available and the
current articles are translated in Spanish.
If you have a newsletter item from your country - please let us know. News Reports A
Jehovah’s Witness
infant in Trinidad-Tobago was given a blood transfusion pursuant to a
court
order, against the parents’ wishes. The
hospital sought the court’s intervention after the infant’s twin died
from
shock resulting from an extremely low blood count and the parents’
refusal to
consent to blood-based treatment. The
story can be found at: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=121439309
Undaunted, local Mother's medical wishes overruled - Judge orders ill boy's blood transfusion - Read the story Doctors go to court to get blood for baby - Read the story Biopure begins selling Hemopure in Sought Africa - Read the story
Experiences Thoughts expressed
are those of the individual and may not reflect the views of all
members or AJWRB. D.R. We regularly receive requests from individuals wanting to assist AJWRB with our educational work. We have prepared an entire section of the web site with ideas and suggestions in this regard. Additionally, you can help AJWRB by supporting our efforts to inform and educate physicians and other health care professionals. This work requires both time and money - resources are necessary to push forward further reforms. If AJWRB has helped you personally, please make a small donation today. The Associated
Jehovah's
Witnesses for Reform on Blood, is a diverse group of Witnesses from
over 25 countries, including elders and other organization officials,
Hospital Liaison Committee members, doctors and members of the general
public. All have volunteered their time and energies in an effort to
bring about an end to a tragic and misguided policy that has claimed
thousands of lives, many of them children.
"Never doubt that a small committed
group of citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margret Mead |
Pease support our educational work, send your contribution to:
AJWRB
P.O. Box 190089
Boise, ID 83719-0089 U.S.A.