Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Blood substitute vexes Jehovah's Witnesses
PolyHeme will be tested on injured patients, many without consent.
By Doug Guthrie
Testing a blood substitute in Metro Detroit next year could lead to a revolution in medical care, but for the area's estimated 8,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, it has produced a religious gray area.
PolyHeme will be given to severely injured patients, many without consent because they will be unconscious. That could include Jehovah's Witnesses, who refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons.
"It could be seen by some as a kind of spiritual rape," said Michael Neal, a lawyer from Troy and a Jehovah's Witness.
He serves on a six-member board of elders helping doctors and patients in conflicts over treatments involving blood.
A violation by members can result in de-fellowship or shunning by the church. But, the denomination's headquarters in New York has left open the question of whether the blood substitute will be allowed.
Local Jehovah's Witnesses hope hospital officials will meet with them to discuss ways to let people opt out. Most witnesses already carry identification indicating their desire to abstain from blood transfusions.
However, many may embrace the new blood substitute, said Karen Scalici, a Jehovah's Witness and the nurse coordinator of bloodless surgery at St. John's Riverview Hospital in Detroit.
"Personally, I think it's exciting," Scalici said. "Many Jehovah's Witnesses are going to be very interested in this and some will have a problem with it."
Jehovah's Witnesses take blood-enhancing drugs before surgical procedures and use a machine in the operating room to collect and recirculate their own blood.
Doug Menner, associate director of hospital information services for Jehovah's Witnesses nationwide in Brooklyn, N.Y., said the church monitors evolving medical science and attempts to determine how it relates to Biblical guidance.
With PolyHeme, the church has determined it isn't whole blood, which poses a reconsideration.