The misguided belief against blood transfusions
These fabricated and weird cults can only be described as sects for the extreme absurdities and their illogical ideology. Oftentimes they are very harmful to society and lethal to its followers as was the case with those who followed Jim Jones and their demise from mass suicide in Guyana.
But make no mistake about it, these other fringe religions are not all that different…than those fundamentalist Muslims and Christians only they have not yet reached a point where their pastors or leaders have asked them to fly a plane into a building, strap a bomb on themselves and blow themselves up or take arsenic laden Kool-Aid - just give them time and they will. Yet, some are doing some things ten times more hideous and repulsive as is the case with the Jehovah’s Witness and their stupid policy of not allowing blood transfusions.
Not only is it illogical because as we all know there are different types of blood groups and should you get one that is not compatible with your own it could have lethal consequences…but science has evolved and progress made and that is no longer a problem nor an argument for receiving or giving blood. But these fanatics cling to some obscure passage of the Scriptures and will carry it to the maximum of consequences: the death of one of their own offspring or a relative.
BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS, JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, AND THE LAW
"The day's news tells of a mother who sacrificed six ounces of her blood in a transfusion for her baby girl. Strange that the busy press should even consider this news. A mother who wouldn't consent to a blood transfusion for her child would be much greater news, and the world a sorry place indeed on the day that such news is found!" -- Columnist Allene Sumner, in 1926.
“Since the WatchTower Society first stopped Jehovah's Witnesses from accepting blood transfusions in 1945, there has been a stream of state and federal court cases which have slowly but surely chipped away at the moral concept that to allow an adult or child to needlessly die inside a hospital setting is something unconscionable to our modern society. But, such has nearly been completely accomplished, thanks to the tireless efforts of the WatchTower Society's Legal Department.
The law in the United States regarding Jehovah's Witnesses and their refusal to accept blood transfusions is somewhat settled, although subject to exceptions. Most competent adults have the constitutional right to refuse to accept a blood transfusion, even if such refusal means they will die. Every year in the United States, an unknown number of adult Jehovah's Witnesses exercise their constitutional right to choose death over a life-saving blood transfusion. For every account of such death that is reported by the news media, there are an unknown number that go unreported due to confidentiality rules that restrain medical and hospital staff from releasing the fact that a death was due to the deceased's refusal to accept a blood transfusion.
Jehovah's Witness Parents will attempt to impose the same "death decision" on their minor children, but practically every hospital will attempt to obtain a court order which will permit them to administer medically necessary blood transfusions over the parent's objections -- assuming that the Jehovah's Witness Child is still alive by the time all the legalities are completed. Courts in the United States will nearly always appoint a temporary legal guardian under such circumstances to oversee and guarantee necessary medical care.
Scenarios involving pregnant Jehovah's Witnesses Mothers and their "fetuses", Jehovah's Witnesses Minors nearing the age of majority, and adult Jehovah's Witnesses who have parental obligations, are less settled, but are heading in the anticipated direction.
One of the benefits of studying the decades-long stream of court cases which have gradually given Jehovah's Witnesses the legal rights they now have regarding blood transfusions is learning about and understanding how during this decades-long process, the Jehovah's Witnesses have shared ideals and legal precedents with other groups which had common legal causes and interests.
For instance, the continued fight for legalization of abortion shares some of the same arguments as does the continuing blood transfusions issue as it relates to "unborn children", or as Jehovah's Witnesses prefer to label them when arguing such court cases -- "fetuses". Legal precedents have been shared by both groups. Opening the way to reject blood transfusions opens the way for other life-saving medical procedures to be refused. Right-to-die and assisted suicide advocates share some common arguments with the Jehovah's Witnesses. One can't help but wonder if and how often attorneys from some of these groups assisted the others with their own causes in order to help their own cause.
Another "light bulb" that finally came on during this legal study answered my decades-long curiosity as to why there were enclaves of Jehovah's Witnesses scattered around the United States who were adamant supporters of the midwife industry. Now, I know. One can only wonder how many hundreds, or possibly even thousands, of Jehovah's Witness newborns who needed a blood transfusion to survive died because their birth occurred outside a hospital setting. One can only wonder how many Jehovah's Witness families with known genetic problems, such as Rh factor incompatibility, repeatedly had baby, after baby, after baby, as those parents simply played a numbers game waiting for one to eventually survive. The evidence is inside.”
SOURCE: http://jwdivorces.bravehost.com/
PHOTO SOURCE: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Blood_donation_at_Fleet_Week_USA.jpg
