JW HLC....a mixed bunch...what has been your experience?

by Lee Elder 23 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  OrphanCrow

  Just wanted to say a bit more about the HLC guys - the promoters of noblood alternatives.

  The HLC are special pioneers. That is the WT class they belong to. The special target of their special ministry is the medical profession. They are engaged in evangelism/promotion of the noblood industry. Their goal is to convert health care professionals, doctors, and health care systems to noblood philosophy.

  The WTS has created a cult that operates in behind the religious cult that they present to the world - they operate and support a no blood cult and the HLC members' job is to look for noblood conversions within the medical world.

  An HLC guy is a Special Pioneer. The JW "tax dollar" supports the lobbying of medical professionals.
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  stillin

  Bossy. One of our local elders needed some heart surgery. He had discussed blood with his doctor and was assured that his stand on blood would be respected. But the HLC brothers came in and urged him to transfer to another hospital where a witness-friendly doctor would do the surgery. The brother told them that he was fine with his doctor but the HLC brothers took an attitude about it. The brother stayed pat and things went fine.
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  Lee Elder

  OC, that is one bizarre and terrible story. We need to preserve it as you must know. Incredibly sad, and frustrating that this goes one. You probably read Robert Weslowski's story on AJWRB in the last couple of months. There are some similarities.
  
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  problemaddict 2

  OC,

  thanks for sharing that. I am incredibly relieved that he is ok, yet also annoyed that the JW response to hearing your story would be along the lines of "see!?........everything was fine".....which is of course not the point, and not accurate.

  I was being groomed to be part of the HLC as a young guy. Most of what we did, was go through the hospital and visit JW's from other places registered as JW's. The guy "training" me now in hindsight, was not qualified in the least bit to understand and advise on complex medical issues. I found this to often be the case with the boots on the ground guys that show up to the hospital.

  They were more focused on being a "presence" of sorts, to make sure what they called the patients wishes were respected.

  On a personal level, my wife as a JW had a medical issue during pregnancy. By then, even though i was practicing still, I was awake on this one issue. The doctor came in and said it says here you are a JW, we are very familiar with their stance, and as a teaching hospital it is our firm conviction that we allow you to decide how this will proceed based on your faith. Would you like us to contact your religions liason?

  My wife looked at me......and we decided NO. We then told the doctor to erase the religious affiliation from the chart. Even indoctrinated and semi-indoctrinated, we were fully aware of the level of intrusion that would be in place if we agreed to that. Later during complications, I was texted and asked "should I have the HLC brothers come by". My answer was nope......brother ______ is a UPS driver....and I have a hospital foll of doctors and nurses. I think they can get a good nights sleep and we will work with the pros.

  Probably the beginning of the end for me.
  
• 

  UnshackleTheChains

  Just wanted to say a bit more about the HLC guys - the promoters of noblood alternatives.

  The HLC are special pioneers. That is the WT class they belong to. The special target of their special ministry is the medical profession. They are engaged in evangelism/promotion of the noblood industry. Their goal is to convert health care professionals, doctors, and health care systems to noblood philosophy.

  The WTS has created a cult that operates in behind the religious cult that they present to the world - they operate and support a no blood cult and the HLC members' job is to look for noblood conversions within the medical world.

  An HLC guy is a Special Pioneer. The JW "tax dollar" supports the lobbying of medical professionals

  I think what Orphan Crow explains really well is that Watchtower has in a proverbial sense let the genie out of the bottle!! Very difficult to get back in.
• 

  Fisherman

  Yes, my baby survived. The doctors gave him a 3% chance of living. He lived because

  OC, you and I have had discussions on this Forum. I sincerely respect your posts in our discussions not only because of sincerity on your part but also because you don't resort to deceit and logical fallacies just to win an argument.

  Do you know that blood would have been a better choice for your baby? My JW friend wanted doctors to use non-blood when his newborn required it with HLC and all but the doctors outright used blood against my friends wishes -the baby died immediately. In your particular case, hind sight is 2020 but who knows what would have happened.
  
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  wannaexit

  Interesting thread thanks Lee Elder and OC for your personal experience
  
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  OrphanCrow

  Fisherman: Do you know that blood would have been a better choice for your baby?

  Yes. I do know that a blood transfusion choice would have been, by far, a better option. I have zero doubts about that. Zero. *to add - my baby didn't need blood - he just needed surgery that may have required a blood transfusion

  The surgery was not an especially complicated one and it had a very high rate of success during those times. Instead of my son undergoing a simple, probably short, surgery to correct a small obstruction of the bowel, he was subjected to a very lengthy, hours and hours long, alternative procedure that drained a lot of the blood from his wee tiny body, stored that blood, and in the meantime, kept his body at really low temperatures. And, not only that....but 6 weeks later, he had a horrible side effect from his blood being re-transfused back into his navel. His bowel became gangrenous. None of that would have happened if he had simply been given the routine, standard surgery that may, or may not, have required a blood transfusion.

  *there is so much more to this story. It gets really ugly. Really ugly. Like Lee said, I need to write it all down.

  The really really ugly part happened when my baby had his second surgery. I was on my own for that one - no mother to interfere with my baby's medical decisions. I made it very clear to the surgeon that I wanted my baby to get blood if he needed it. The surgeon promised me he would get blood.

  But, that didn't happen. The surgeon lied because he knew that blood wasn't going to be used. The surgery had already been set up to go ahead with the alternative procedure (hemodilution) and the specialist had already been brought in from a different city. I spoke to the pediatric anesthesiologist on the telephone after the 9 hour surgery and I asked him if my baby had needed blood and if he had got it.

  This is what the doctor yelled at me over the phone:

  "Of course he didn't get blood!! You don't use blood in this procedure. What is WRONG with you people?? Nobody, nobody ever, should ever have to go through what that baby did!"

  And then he told me that he didn't understand why I wanted to come over to the hospital to see him because "he probably won't live through the night. Little guys like this don't usually make it. His chances are about 3 percent. But, you can come see him if you want."

  I went to see him.
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  TD

  Thanks for sharing OC.

  He lived because he was a tough little son of a bitch.

  
  
• 

  TD

  My wife and I were faced with a crises when a prescription medication attacked my youngest child's blood.

  The JW parent organization and its surrogates have a tendency to hide behind the uncertainty inherent in any medical procedure, pointing out that no one can say for sure if transfusion medicine was actually necessary or not. However that's a much more difficult argument to make when a single blood component has been chemically removed from an otherwise healthy person's body.

  My wife's family often act as if I don't exist and one of them made phone calls and two JW elders (HLC?) showed up at the hospital. They seemed like decent enough men although they were not qualified to give medical advice of any sort.

  They politely left after a brief conversation.