Would the blood ban be lifted if more men were dying of blood loss?

by Gill 29 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  yknot

  Blood is banned?....

  This depends on who you speak with:

  Elders will say yes!

  But ring the WBTS and they will tell you all medical blood is a "matter of conscience"

  The fact is that once there are only JWs baptized after June 1985, the blood thing will officially become dust, since changes to the baptism questions effectively remove a persons right to sue. Until then this is falling down to the level of organ transplants.

  Just a heads up, anyone who has had an IV, has had a transfusion of their own blood, abeit a small one bet as many JWs argue, abstain means abstain.

  Y
• 

  compound complex

  Re: concessions made for men for a reason other than blood loss:

  Ban on vaccinations removed when a WTB&TS official [NHK, I believe] needed to travel overseas.

  Did Caesar's law "save the day," i.e., save the Witnesses from Clay's foolish notions?

  CoCo
• 

  Jenlet

  I think there is some truth to the idea that the blood ban primarily affects women, and therefore it doesn't make much different where the organization is concerned.

  The Watchtower has little use for women. There are already far too many of them, as many as 70% of the rank and file in some independent studies.

  Evidence of sex-based treatment can be seen in the relative ease in which a woman can fade. A woman can disappear and never be bothered again, but a man who fades will get plenty of attention from the elders. Sometimes an inactive male will even be offered "privileges" in order to come back.
• 

  skeeter1

  Please do not forget the Blacks. Sickle Cell Anemia = blood transfusions.

  Skeeter
• 

  R.Crusoe

  I do not know for sure but I feel that gender is irrelevant in this debate. In fact my feeling is that the WTBTS is a much less macho and more femenine friendly environment. Females, as in most of western society, seem to chat/ gossip / communicate about their own feelings far more than do males and subsequently attempt to create influence amongst everyone in subtle ways and through elders wives etc. My feelings may be subjective or inaccurate but it is my feeling and experience. Trying to have an in depth conversation amongst males about feelings and personal experiences is virtually nonexistent as far as I remember.
• 

  White Dove

  If medical records and treatments are supposed to be legally confidential, how does the use of blood in an emergency get to be known by the elders? I would not tell anyone if I had a transfusion. How does anyone know? Blood in a clear bag over the bed? Have it done in private away from any JW's. Honestly, I think that I could get away with it without anyone knowing. Just have to be sneaky enough. How does the HLC find out so quickly? JW's are not usually famous enough to catch the eye of news reporters.
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  White Dove

  Not much use for womyn? They are the ones who make the money for the org.
• 

  Athanasius

  I agree with Terry. The Watchtower is aware of the possible legal ramifications should they change their policy on blood transfusions and so will leave the present policy in place regardless of how many men, women, and children are affected.
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  Enjoying freedom

  Thought you may all be interested in this excerpt from a local newspaper (Hastings and St Leonards Observer) (And apologies but it hasn't done a very clean cut and paste into this forum!!)

  A MOTORCYCLIST died after refusing to have a life-saving blood transfusion, an inquest heard.
  Peter Hughes, age 56, of (Address), was taken to the Conquest on 16 February after being involved in a collision on Queensway.

  He was conscious on arriving in hospital but his condition declined rapidly and he died after refusing a blood transfusion on religious grounds.
  
  Pathologist Ian Hawley said Hughes had a serious fracture of the pelvis but had a more than 50 per cent chance of survival if he had accepted the transfusion.
  
  He said: "The major organs were all intact so it is probable he would have survived, and been ambulant if disabled."
  Hughes was travelling north at approximately 6pm when a car pulled out in front of him at the Crowhurst Road junction.
  Carolyn Finkler, who was driving behind Hughes, gave evidence at Wednesday's inquest.
  She said: "He was going slowly, driving very, very carefully considering it was national speed limit.
  "I remember thinking it was difficult to see him because everything, his bike and clothes, was black."
  She described seeing a car pull out of Crowhurst Road and seeing a collision, which sent Hughes flying over the bonnet of the contact car.
  
  He was still conscious after the accident and told onlookers that he was in agony, saying: 'Why did somebody hit me? I had my lights on.'
  
  Angela Dyer, who was driving the car that Hughes hit, said she had not seen him.
  She said: "I remember seeing a car a bit further down the road, but I thought I had enough time to safely pull out."
  PC Lane, a Sussex Police crash investigation officer said it was possible the motor cycle light could have merged with the lights of the car behind, giving the impression that there was no bike at all.
  
  Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Alan Craze said: "Sadly there are a huge number of motorcycle crashes in the county.
  
  "Bikes represent only one in a 100 of all road journeys, but are involved in one in three road deaths.
  "This is for two reasons, they are not easily seen and when something goes wrong there's no protection." Last Updated: 16 August 2007 4:34 PM Page 1 of 1
• 

  Gill

  ...and so the list grows longer, the victims increase and the hands of the doctors are still tied!

  Better to be a live dog than a dead lion!