This is an old news item from 2001 there was a sudden surge a few years back of jw's donating cell savers to hospitals, I thought it strange at the time because I'd been taught that blood leaving the body was supposed to be disposed of. I think it was the beginning of the borg starting to slide in little extras and approve of things just as they had the organ transplants in the 80's(?).
I think maybe the borgs trying to mainstream and blend in with the other religions,maybe its one of those things that although they fight rigourosly through courts (along with anything else) they'd rather it just went away now and the new blood directives were possibly a step in that direction. Tragedies like the poor Emma Gough girl remind the public that theyre not quite as mainstream as they'd like to portray.
Unfortunately the jw's have been so well entrenched with the no blood idea the taking fractions confuses them, its quite scary to see them posting in places like noblood.org asking for guidance from the med staff there because they dont understand whats allowed and whats not. Their lives could depend on answers that theyre not getting from the people who would be first to stand over their beds and watch to ensure they didnt take a transfusion.
I think someone posted a nice easy to understand graph on here a whiles back showing exactly which fractions are allowed and how they add up but i dont remember who now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1464475.stm
Jehovah's Witnesses are donating a blood-cell salvage machine to a hospital that takes away the need for transfusion in surgery.
Members of the religion traditionally refuse blood transfusions because they conflict with their beliefs.
The Fresenius Continuous Autologus Transfusion System (Cats), which is being donated to St Mary's Hospital in Newport on the Isle of Wight, re-circulates a patient's own blood during operations.
John Carruthers, a spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses, said he hoped the machine, which is being delivered on Monday, would also be an advantage to other people.
He said: "Because of teachings in the Bible, Jehovah's Witnesses do not touch blood that is not their own.
"This machine will mean that when they require surgery there is no need for blood transfusions to be used."
The fundraising for the £19,000 Fresenius Kabi machine was set up on the island because of the high proportion of Jehovah's Witnesses who live there.
Cost savings
Mr Carruthers added: "But we hope it will also be useful for the wider community, since as more people become aware of the potential health risks of blood transfusions they will be able to use it as well."
Dr Michael Hof, senior consultant at St Mary's, welcomed the fact the reduction in health risks of transfusions could potentially save the NHS millions of pounds.
He said: "Unfortunately, the rest of the world is ahead of the United Kingdom as far as the use of cell salvage is concerned.
"At present the public on the island and in the UK generally do not demand cell-salvage because they are not aware of its benefits."
Dr Hof's colleague, consultant haematologist Dr Rajeev Joshi, said he had been pushing for the treatment to be available in the UK for "a long time".
He said: "In simple terms, patients are receiving their own fresh blood without the risk of infection."
Cats also speeds up the transfusion process, as there is no need to carry out compatibility tests on the patient.
The machine also improves the quality of the blood because it does not need storing, which reduces its capacity for storing oxygen.
The Isle of Wight is home to 600 Jehovah's Witnesses in seven congregations.
Proportionally that is one for every 250 people, compared to one for every 450 people across the rest of the UK.
