So, here's some news from my country. There was this 20 year old JW girl who was a rookie driver. She was in the car with her parents and for some reason decided to cross a railroad right before a train was coming. Being a rookie (most cars in Europe have a manual transmission), she stalled the engine and couldn't get the car out of the way before the train hit it. Her parents were fine but she was in critical condition.
She was in a coma and required a blood transfusion but her parents absolutely refused to accept it. The doctors pleaded with them but with no avail. They had no choice but to administer erythropoietin as the witnesses asked, even though that is almost useless as a treatment in such an emergency situation. The doctors began legal proceedings to overrule the decision of the parents but the parents hired a lawyer and attempted to move her to a different hospital where she would receive surgery. She died on the way.
This tragedy made national news. A branch representative gave a statement to the journalists stating that JWs do not mandate the refusal of blood, that this is a personal choice and that those that accept blood suffer no repercussions in the congregations. Funny thing is, next to him was the guy that visited my mother last month and knew that she was forcibly disassociated for taking a blood transfusion. He confronted the branch guy about his statement and the branch guy replied "What, did you expect me to tell the truth to the media?".
In the meanwhile, this tragedy has been hotly debated on numerous national news channels and newspapers. Most people have responded with outrage and JWs are hugely unpopular and infamous because of this. So much so that they stopped going in field service altogether in the region where that girl died out of fear for their own safety. Everyone is enraged with what a stupid cult this was, for basically killing this 20 year old girl. I can't imagine any other type of response. JWs truly gave a good witness on this occasion about what they really are.