I apologize for the choppiness of my last posts - I don't know why the material I had posted about Ronny's smoking knife disappeared from my first post about Lapin.
Ron Lapin's practice of "bloodless" surgery came at a time when some bloodless methods had already been established by surgeons like Denton Cooley and by surgeons in Canada. During the 70s, Cooley was doing heart surgery on JWs without the use of blood (he used hemodilution procedures that wouldn't get "official" approval until years later). The same thing was happening in Canada - JW patients who required surgery were subjected to "alternative" procedures that wouldn't get "official" approval until much later. Also in Canada, the early prototype for the HLC was being trialed - this system would morph into the modern day HLC with the help of Ron Lapin. And possibly influenced by Lapin's buddy who wrote his biography - Gene Church had experience in forms of corporate training techniques like Mind Dynamics.
A textbook in use by the blood management industry is Basics of Blood Management by Petra Seeber, Aryeh Shander. After a discussion about Cooley and his work with JW patients in the 60s and the doctors who were influenced by Cooley's successes, the book says this:
This laid the foundation for organized “bloodless programs.” One of the hospitals with such a program was the Esperanza Intercommunity Hospital in Yorba Linda, California, where a high percentage of patients were Witnesses. Dr Herk Hutchins, an experienced surgeon and a Witness himself, was known for his development of an iron-containing formula for blood-building. Among his team was the young surgeon Ron Lapin. Later, he was famed for his pioneering work in the area of bloodless therapies. Critics labeled him a quack. Nevertheless, he continued and was later honored for opening one of the first organized bloodless centers in the world, as well as for publishing the first journal on this topic, and for his efforts to teach his colleagues. During his career, he performed thousands of bloodless surgeries.
The key word in the above account is "organized". It was through Lapin's alliance with the JWs that the organization of the HLC came to fruition. The book No Man's Blood reveals his work with the JWs to refine an organized system of referrals to bloodless doctors.
From the NATA website:
...Ron Lapin, a California surgeon, who operated on several thousand Witness patients during his surgical career. Moreover, he was the first to recognize bloodless medicine and surgery as a speciality or discipline. Based on this belief, he created the first bloodless medicine and surgery center in Bellflower Hospital in California in the late 1970s early 1980s in response to the demand for his services. He also published the first journal in the field and made the first efforts at training and credentialing physicians. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the parent organization of the Jehovahs Witness religion, recognized the importance of providing educational assistance to physicians who were willing to treat their members. Early. Informal efforts at education and communication were given structure in 1988 with the introduction of the Hospital Information Services branch of the watchtower in Brooklyn. This group of individuals has become one of the primary sources of information regarding transfusion alternatives to the medical community.
Somewhat contradictory to the above information, In the textbook Basics of Blood Management, it is revealed that the HLC was established before 1988:
In the early 1960s, representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses started visiting physicians to explain to the reasons why transfusions were refused by the Witness population. They often offered literature that dealt with techniques that were acceptable to Witness patients, informing physicians of the availability of so-called transfusion alternatives. In 1979 the governing body of the Jehovah's Witnesses announced the formation of Hospital Liaison Committees.
Those "representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses" in the 60s and 70s, along with the help of Glen How and Associates, throttled the Canadian medical system, and forced health care providers into adopting bloodless procedures such as hemodilution and early cell saver technology. Once those alternative procedures were established as acceptable, Ron Lapin was an ideal candidate for the WTS' entry into the public world of "blood management" by helping with the organization of the HLC. And he rose to the occasion, contributing his part to establishing institutions that would train many of the people who would later become the founding members of the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management.