Powerful thought: "a blood card was a suicide note you carried around with you at all times".
That calls to mind the Heaven's Gate cult. The leader redefined suicide, so that in the end, those not killing themselves to reach the next level and get swooped up by the UFO following the comet were the ones who were deemed as committing suicide. Only by killing themselves could they avoid suicide...as they defined it.
For anyone out there who still might be troubled by the theological aspects of accepting blood transfusions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWNlyyM32ts&list=PLyNx0oM_bmgBuDVZWWiInBRGoovkUj95B&index=0