Deaths Due To Blood Refusal
Statistical extrapolation is impractical at this time to estimate total annual deaths related to the Watchtower organization’s blood doctrine. However there is sufficient statistical data to conclude annual deaths based on at least one medical presentation.
A 2002 medical article by Khadra et al states:
“In the CEMD the very high risk of mortality in women who refuse blood transfusion was highlighted. The death rate in this group was 1 per 1,000 maternities compared with an expected incidence of less than 1 per 100, 000 maternities.”(1)
Assuming an annual birth rate of 20 per 1,000, and based on the Watchtower organization’s annual statistics, over the period of 1995 through 2006 there were at least 1,455,000 births among Jehovah’s Witnesses. Assuming these women presented themselves as refusing blood, this translates into 1,455 deaths during this period.
Marvin Shilmer
__________________
Reference:
1. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2002, 2:7 (Full text available at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/2/7 )