Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood
This section addresses some of the issues that confront doctors who treat Jehovah’s Witnesses and their children – particularly the ethical issues. Physicians are often troubled by the beliefs and misinformation their Jehovah’s Witness patients have about blood as well as the shifting and irrational aspects of the Watchtower Society’s blood policy. Here you will find tools to help you better communicate with your patient, establish informed consent, provide for their welfare and help them make autonomous choices.
AJWRB can provide educational information and exhibits for medical conferences as well as presentations and Q&A sessions for Emergency and Anesthesia Departments. For more information please contact us.
Refusal of potentially life-saving blood transfusions by Jehovah’s Witnesses: should doctors explain that not all JWs think it’s religiously required? – Raanan Gillon, Editor – Journal of Medical Ethics
Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah’s Witnesses: Part 1. Should bioethical deliberation consider dissidents’ views? – Osamu Muramoto/Journal of Medical Ethics
Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah’s Witnesses: Part 2. A novel approach based on rational non-interventional paternalism. – Osamu Muramoto/Journal of Medical Ethics
Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah’s Witnesses: Part 3. A proposal for a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy. – Osamu Muramoto/Journal of Medical Ethics. – Osamu Muramoto/Journal of Medical Ethics
Bioethical aspects of the recent changes in the policy of refusal of blood by Jehovah’s Witnesses – Osamu Muramoto/British Medical Journal. Note: The responses to this article amount to a thorough debate of the issue among Jehovah’s Witness representatives and are very insightful.
Medical confidentiality and the protection of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ autonomous refusal of blood. – Osamu Muramoto/Journal of Medical Ethics
Why some Jehovah’s Witnesses accept blood and conscientiously reject official Watchtower Society blood policy – Lee Elder/Journal of Medical Ethics
Click on the link below each excerpt to read the entire article.
Kalila Danisi – The Heartache and History of the Jehovah’s Witness Blood Doctrine
by Anonymous Jehovah's Witness correspondent* Is it truly acceptable for a 20-year-old to die from a potentially preventable cause? This question compels me to stop procrastinating and write about the poignant ethical dilemma faced by Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding...
Components of Blood are the Issue
By Dieter Parczany During the early 1990's, I was a member of the Hospital Liaison Committee (HLC) in Berlin, Germany. Since I was a Jehovah’s Witness elder with special training and knowledge about Watchtower's blood policies, I served as the chairman of the...
Hematologist Helps Open the Eyes of Pregnant JW
I looked forward to the birth of my third child. I had decided on a surgical birth (my third cesarean). Since each subsequent cesarean is more likely to become complicated, I would be at a higher risk of blood loss during and after the operation, and as an active...
Psychological Conflicts of a Jehovah’s Witness Patient
Abstract When obtaining informed consent from a Jehovah’s Witness for treatments involving blood products, incongruent, inconsistent and uninformed behavior may be observed. This article provides background on why this population may refuse treatment and suggests...
The Watchtower’s Medical Expert
Article contributed by S. Sparrow The January 2000 issue of the Awake! magazine, published by the Watchtower Society Bible and Tract Society of New York and distributed worldwide, featured articles endorsing bloodless surgery and promoting bloodless medicine as a safe...
JW Elders Pressure Non-Believers to Conform
My name is Robert Weslowski Jr. (Bob), and I am from Tucson, Arizona. Back in 1996, my father, Robert, who was 72 years old, entered a local hospital via the emergency room complaining of severe stomach pains. This was not unusual for him as he suffered from severe...
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Blood – Tens of Thousands Dead in Hidden Tragedy
While the Watchtower has never published either actual statistics or estimates of the impact of their blood policy on Jehovah's Witnesses, it is well-known in the medical community that the policy has caused or contributed to numerous premature deaths among followers...
Watchtower’s Approved Blood Transfusions
The Watchtower and Jehovah's Witnesses in general still cling to the "no blood" mantra. As you will see in this section, that claim is extraordinarily dishonest. The Watchtower has approved the use of all red cell, white cell, platelet and plasma derivatives. The list...
Watchtower “No Blood Card”
The "No Blood Card" that Jehovah's Witnesses carry has experienced significant changes over the years, as you will see in this article. It was simply referred to as "the blood card" for many decades, then came to be called "the Advanced Medical Directive". Another...
Watchtower Policy on Vaccination
Most Jehovah’s Witnesses will be completely unaware of the Watchtower Society’s (WTS) once firm position against the “crime” of vaccination. During the centuries great plagues and illnesses have taken hundreds of millions of victims, sometimes even devastated...