The Watchtower's Medical Bible - the HLC handbook

by rebel8 12 Replies latest watchtower medical

  • rebel8
    rebel8

    Posting this PM at the request of Orphan Crow:

    From a medical virtual library in Spain: "Fernando Martinez Guerrero, the Liaison Committee Hospitals of Jehovah's Witnesses , has made ​​the library a collection of abstracts of scientific articles related to blood conservation techniques and perioperative ( Blood Conservation Techniques and Perioperative Planning ). This document is divided into several parts, which I link here for your reference for all those interested in the topic: https://bibliovirtual.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/guia-de-ahorro-de-sangre-en-el-hospital-de-torrevieja/

    The Hospital Liaison "handbook" is available as 10 pdfs that can be downloaded. The entire document is a formidable 4660 pages long. The first six parts primarily contain abstracts of medical studies that support the no blood stance of the JWs. *note - Since this version of the Medical Bible was produced in 2001, Dr. Joachim Boldt's research has been declared fraudulent and his papers retracted. This 2001 version has 14 of Boldt studies referenced. I do not know if the WT's Hospital Information Services has followed suit to most other publications and retracted his papers from their current reference guide.

  • Listener
    Listener
    There should be no reason why the current version is not on their website. This is a life and death issue and this information should not be restricted to a select few. Shame on them.
  • millie210
    millie210

    Thank you for posting this.

    I miss OrphanCrow and her formidable research skills!

  • OrphanCrow
    OrphanCrow

    Thank you for posting this Rebel...I have missed you too, Millie!

    I am just testing...maybe I can reply to posts even though my attempts to make new posts have failed.

    Listener: There should be no reason why the current version is not on their website. This is a life and death issue and this information should not be restricted to a select few. Shame on them.

    The Watchtower has been publishing volumes of literature that promote "alternatives to blood transfusions" for decades now. They have distributed these volumes to hospitals, doctors and universities since back in the 70s.

    As far as a "current version" goes, it would not surprise me if the WT no longer produces this particular "bible" of medical advice.

    They don't have to anymore since the HLC big shots formed alliances with doctors and others to form the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management. The SABM produces the 'guidelines for blood management'. And not just for the JWs...those guidelines affect the whole world's blood supply now.

    *hoping this will post!

    ...ha! it worked...

  • betterdaze
    betterdaze
    I miss OrphanCrow and her formidable research skills!
    Ditto! Great to see you again, OrphanCrow.

    And thanks, rebel8, for helping her get this up and out.

    The HLCs appear to be the foot soldiers of SABM. Both demand further scrutiny.
  • OrphanCrow
    OrphanCrow
    betterdaze: The HLCs appear to be the foot soldiers of SABM. Both demand further scrutiny.

    Yes, they do.

    The JWs make up a tiny percentage of the population (less that .1% ?) and yet they are heavily represented within the SABM and their affiliates. Back in 2001, several HLC fellows, along with like minded medical professionals, made up the core group of founding members of SABM - which represents a huge disproportionate number of people who believe that blood transfusions are a huge no-no. And now...those same people - comprised of a large number of JWs - make the "guidelines for blood management" for EVERYBODY in the world.

    And...it is a Jehovah's Witness doctor - Dr. Petra Seeber from Germany - who has co-authored the seminal textbook for blood management professionals to be educated with. Along with another member of SABM - Aryeh Shander.

    Basics of Blood Management, Second edition

  • Listener
    Listener
    It's nice to see you back posting Orphan Crow. Your deep research on various topics is much appreciated and thanks for the info you just provided.
  • OrphanCrow
    OrphanCrow

    Thanks, Listener. It's good to know that this info is both read and appreciated.

    As far as "deep research" goes, let's go a little deeper.

    Let's take a look at 2001 and what was happening in the world of blood alternatives.

    In 2000, the Watchtower "allowed" fractions of blood and gave their approval for blood made from cow's blood - Hemopure.

    In 2001, SABM was formed, comprised of medical professionals and JWs like Shannon Farmer, Richard Melseth. Edward Blakeley, Jan Wade, Sherri Ozawa, Axel Hoffman, Sharon Vernon....and more (can't remember all their names at the moment).

    In 2002, the Watchtower Society received the president's award for SABM.

    I recently found some information that is farther afield - outside the realm of doctrine and such...to add some context to what was really going on with the JWs during that time - and who was actually deciding what the JWs could and could not have for blood products. I have previously posted information from the FDA concerning Hemopure/JWs/military and this information comes from the FDA as well, but it is from a few years earlier - 2002.

    This link will take you to several documents relating to the FDA hearings for hydroxyethyl starch, the substance connected to Dr. Boldt's research that has been redacted for fraudulent data. http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/02/briefing/3867oph1.htm

    Areyh Shander, the hero of bloodless surgery, whose base is Englewood Hospital in New Jersey, corresponded with the FDA concerning the use of Hextan and said this in a letter dated May 2002: "...As presented in the attached, SABM has been working with the US military to develop recommendations for fluid resuscitation strategies. Hetastarch products, in particular Hextend, play a key role in those recommendations."

    So. That is pretty clear. SABM, a society with LOTS of JWs olding membership in that blood society, worked with the US military.

    The attachment that Shander refers to gives more detail.

    The Society for the Advancement of Blood Management is a co-sponsor of meetings known as STORMACT (Strategies TO Reduce Military And Civilian Transfusions). There have been five meetings of STORMACT since October of 2001 held at the behest of US military medical leaders seeking optimal resuscitation management strategies, including those of immediate concern on the battlefield. This document is a summary of a working draft to be published later this year by physicians concerned with fluid management and resuscitation.

    Shander goes on to make this statement:

    We employ aggressive colloid therapies using hydroxyethyl starches (Hextend exclusively).

    STORMACT, with Shander as spokeperson, was making a plea to the FDA be able to continue using a problematic substance (from Boldt's fraudulent research) to support the research that they do for the US military. And who are the patients that Shander uses this starch on? That are so important to the US military?

    Well...read the following article:

    http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BioTime+Optimistic+as+Its+Pro…

    ...a STORMACT symposium held at the Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas in May 2002. STORMACT was founded in direct response to the events of September 11. It consists of a team of nationally recognized civilian experts in blood usage reduction and of volunteer experts in the United States Army, Navy and Air Force created to address the problem of how to limit blood usage in war or disaster situations. The meeting was sponsored by the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management (SABM).

    So, Jehovah's Witnesses like Melseth, Farmer, Ozawa, Wade, et al...sponsored STORMACT - how to limit blood usage for military purposes.

    What a perfect fit - JW patients testing for the military on how to limit blood use. Such a sweet and often unattainable thing in medical research - a baseline measurement of death. With the consent of the patient! The perfect complement for the RESUS research the military was conducting:

    In the April 2002 issue of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, an article appeared entitled "Multidisciplinary management of a Jehovah's witness patient for the removal of a renal cell carcinoma extending into the right atrium." The article was authored by Dr. David M. Moskowitz, Dr. Aryeh Shander and their colleagues at New Jersey's Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. Dr. Shander is a member of the STORMACT team and the STORMACT symposium faculty. During the procedure Hextend was used as part of a surgical protocol in which a kidney tumor was removed which had grown up into the vascular system and heart of a Jehovah's witness. The patient's treatment involved acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH), followed by the induction of deep hypothermia and 27 minutes of cardiac arrest, during which the tumor was removed. ANH involves the replacement of a portion of the blood volume with a surgical fluid, and collection of a similar amount of the patient's blood to be returned when needed at a later stage in the procedure. ANH is of interest to researchers looking to minimize the use of blood in treating combat casualties.

    And now we know why the Watchtower Society received the SABM president's award in 2002. They were supplying subjects for military research - facilitated by Jehovah's Witnesses themselves - the ones who are 'helping' those poor unfortunates who can't take blood and live. Helping the JW trauma victims who have to refuse the one thing that will let them live - red blood cells.

    JW trauma victim = combat casualty.

  • Pistoff
    Pistoff

    Is there evidence of money going to WT or SABM from the military or the government?

  • Anders Andersen
    Anders Andersen

    So Witnesses who are farmers are not allowed to use blood as a fertilizer for their crops, but Witnesses working in SABM are allowed to 'advance blood management'? 'Managing blood' is something different from not using blood at all...

    Regardless of WT Society involvement, shouldn't every Witness working for SABM DFed?

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