Blood -- How Many Die?
When it comes to estimating deaths related to the WTS Blood Doctrine articles such as the following may be valuable.
The December 2004 (Volume 32, Issue 6) issue of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (1) has a well-written audit article on Jehovah's Witnesses and blood. The article is titled Bloodless Intensive Care: A Case Series and Review of Jehovah's Witnesses in ICU. (2)
Not surprisingly, the audit presents the following conclusion:
"This study found a trend towards higher mortality in JW patients compared with the rest of the ICU population. JW patients with Hb of less than 20 g/l are extremely unlikely to survive."
For details on this audit's methodology and findings I recommend reading the entire article.
Over a period of almost five years there were 21 JWs admitted to The Alfred Hospital in the State of Victoria, Australia. Of these 21 five died. Of the five that died 3 of the deaths were premature related to anemia or extremely low hemoglobin. These 3 deaths over 5 years represent 14 percent morbidity due to adherence to the WTS' Blood Doctrine. 14 percent!
If this statistical extrapolation is even close to correct for this 1 hospital then one need not wonder whether thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses have died prematurely due to the WTS' Blood Doctrine given the vast number of major hospitals around the world that are just as likely to admit JWs to their intensive care units. And, not to be missed is the fact that this study does not include ANY deaths occurring in an emergency room prior to admittance to ICU.
Marvin Shilmer
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Reference:
1 Published by the Australian Society of Anaesthetists. Full text available online at http://www.mwc.com/NewsfeedArticle.cfm?NewsID=8862
2 Authors: G. MACLAREN M.B., B.S., F.J.F.I.C.M., F.R.A.C.P., Former Senior Registrar at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, and M. ANDERSON M.B., Ch.B., F.A.N.Z.C.A., F.J.F.I.C.M., Staff Specialist at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria.