Jehovah's Witnesses and blood

The official teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses rejects allogeneic and pre-operative autologous transfusions of whole blood, red cells, white cells, platelets or plasma. This is based on an understanding of the biblical admonition to "keep abstaining from blood" based on Acts 15:28, 29 (NWT). However, it is a personal decision on how their "own blood will be handled in the course of a surgical procedure, medical test, or current therapy."In current medical practice, whole blood transfusions are very rare, and individual blood components are used instead. Witnesses are permitted to receive anything from blood so long as it is sufficiently fractionated before transfusion. However, if a fraction, “makes up a significant portion of that component” or "carries out the key function of a primary component" it may be objectionable to them but is permissible.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been known to highlight dangers of blood transfusions. Witness representatives have stated that plasma volume expanders are often sufficient to take care of various medical emergency situations. However, Witnesses explain that their objections to blood transfusions are for religious reasons.

According to a peer-reviewed article published in 2005 in Journal of Church and State, Jehovah's Witnesses are allowed to accept blood provided it is in the form of blood fractions. Kerry Louderback-Wood, the author and former Witness herself, alleges that labeling the currently acceptable blood fractions as "minute" in relation to whole blood causes followers to misunderstand the scope and extent of allowed fractions. She also claims that Witness publications misrepresent the medical risks of taking blood and the efficacy of non-blood medical therapies in critical situations.

The Watchtower organization acknowledges that abiding by this doctrine has led to premature deaths due to blood loss, but there are no published statistics on total deaths. However, regarding the single patient presentation of pregnancy, a 2002 medical journal stated: "In the CEMD the very high risk of mortality in women who refuse blood transfusion was highlighted. The death rate in this group was 1 per 1,000 maternities compared with an expected incidence of less than 1 per 100,000 maternities."Ethical concerns in managing blood crisis situations in pediatric cases has sometimes led to transfusions being administered to children against family wishes.

A growing number of hospitals are offering bloodless techniques in medicine and surgery. A number of medical professionals have credited Jehovah's Witnesses and their related organizations for their contribution to the dissemination of information regarding bloodless surgery techniques. Experts in the medical surgical profession have collaborated with Jehovah's Witnesses to produce information regarding the benefits of bloodless techniques and therapies.

There is not uniform acceptance of the current blood doctrine within the Jehovah's Witnesses community.Though accepted by a majority, there is evidence a significant population of Jehovah's Witnesses does not endorse it.

 

Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses   Jehovah's Witnesses and blood     Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses

Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses