Jehovah's Witness mother dies after refusing blood transfusion after giving birth

[Briar]

SparklingWaves, I am so sorry you had to witness such a traumatic death of a child. I can't begin to imagine how awful that was for you and the rest of the hospital staff.

I know I came off as wishy-washy in my post, and that is most likely because I have not witnessed something like this first hand, and for that I count myself fortunate.

I work in hospice now (I left critical care for many reasons) and death in our profession is expected, and in many cases, welcomed. It is very different from ER/Trauma. Perhaps my hospice experience has made death such a given I've almost taken it for granted.

I appreciate your perspective and thank you very much for sharing it. You've gotten me to start thinking about an issue I'd pushed aside.

 

[SparklingWaves]

I was rotated to the ER, because there were so many out sick. I worked on the Post CCU unit at that time.

To me, Pediatrics is a tough area. That is not my choice area and I am glad this hospital wasn't a pediatrics only hospital. Children really get to my heart and I am extremely protective of children.

What made matters worse in the little boy's situation was family members of other patients. They had over heard what was going and actually started cursing out the deceased boy's parents. The police had to step in and get the parents out of there.

BTW- Every hospice nurse I ever meet was an angel. You are highly admired for what you do.

 

[ratmist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Briar SparklingWaves, I am so sorry you had to witness such a traumatic death of a child. I can't begin to imagine how awful that was for you and the rest of the hospital staff. I know I came off as wishy-washy in my post, and that is most likely because I have not witnessed something like this first hand, and for that I count myself fortunate. I work in hospice now (I left critical care for many reasons) and death in our profession is expected, and in many cases, welcomed. It is very different from ER/Trauma. Perhaps my hospice experience has made death such a given I've almost taken it for granted. I appreciate your perspective and thank you very much for sharing it. You've gotten me to start thinking about an issue I'd pushed aside.

I just wanted to say thanks for your responses. I agreed with everything you said, but I am far more antagonistic about decisions made on the basis of spiritual belief alone, to the utter exclusion of medical science. Death is a normal part of life, but needless, preventable, early death on an altar of ignorance is something I find abhorrent - but that's coming from a lapsed Catholic with more aetheistic tendencies than anything else.

 

[VeXedPiNk]

This is a topic that I feel very torn about... and yet something that I have experienced first-hand.

Several years ago, a close friend of mine was diagnosed with leukemia. She was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and disagreed with the life-saving transfusions that she desperately needed. She was given some transfusions, against her wishes, and ended up going to court over it. She was only 17 when this happened and her case became a very well known (and debated) case here in Alberta.

She asked me to be a character witness in her case, and it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Although I disagreed with her not wanting the transfusions (because of course I wanted my friend to live), I respected her decision. Her religion and the choices that came with it were something that she valued, and fought for. Never in a million years did I ever want to lose her, but I also did not think it was my place to question her beliefs.

She eventually succumbed to the disease and her case is still widely discussed. Not a day goes by that I do not think about how much I miss her, and how much I wish that she was still here with me today. But not a day goes by that I do not commend her for standing up for something that she held so dear. Nobody should have the right to decide something for anyone who has the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.

I opted to be her character witness, simply because her character was something I admired. Even in the face of immenent death, she wanted to be true to herself and her beliefs.

 

[SparklingWaves]

I am so sorry about your loss.

 

[eulchen]

I have discussed this with my mister, and though we both agree that this is not easy and we would definately have other opinions on this, we were astonished, that the woman could overcome her mother instincts, something we both believe to be some of the strongest "natural" instincts still visible in humans, because of religious beliefs.

 

[Kels823]

I think it's a bit presumptuous for some posters here to make judgment calls on JWs as individuals, based on one or two links you found online.

There is so much more involved.

I hope her family is recovering well.

 

[ratmist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kels823 I think it's a bit presumptuous for some posters here to make judgment calls on JWs as individuals, based on one or two links you found online. There is so much more involved.

Care to elaborate?

 

[chevonne98]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SparklingWaves I find the information you provided very interesting, Ratmist. Thank you for posting that information. There must be more than one division of JWs, because I have cousins that do not believe in receiving any fractions of blood. However, I went to school with a JW who did believe in receiving fractions of blood.

JW believe that accepting transfusions of whole blood are out of line with the principle found in the bible about the sactity of blood. However each JW is encouraged to make personal choice about whether or not they will accept blood fractions AFTER carefully considering what their concsience will allow them to live with after having an understanding of the difference between whole blood and blood fractions. That is what leads to some agreeing to recieve them and some refusing.

I don't want to argue that point but I would like to give you my perspective as someone that is currently a JW and has a first hand knowledge of our beliefs as a organization. First of all we are not on a death mission just because we don't accept blood transfusions. If we wanted to die or had no regard for our lives we wouldn't even bother seeking medical treatment. I do understand that it is difficult for some to understand our decision to refuse what many believe would be life saving blood transfusions, but we aren't ignorant about what that means. It means that for some of us there are alternatives (maybe not as quick or cheap as a transfusion) such as blood expanders, but in all reality it means that some of us will die. We don't expect some miraculous event to save us because we turned down a blood transfusion however we aren't willing to take an action that we TRULY believe will damage our relationship with our creator. For us based on the promises held out in the bible this life is just temporary and isn't worth saving if it means trading our relationship with God and our prospects for everlasting life.

My father was in a terrible accident where he lost 30% of his blood and we were afraid he would die. The doctors however were able to use alternatives to blood transfusion to help save his life and almost 10 years later it still amazes me that he made it through that first night.

I encourage any of you with questions about what JW believe to ask them when they come to your door or you meet them in the real world. I understand that many people don't agree with what we believe to be true, but at least find out what it is that we believe before you make that decision.

If anyone wants to PM for more info or to make comments feel free.

Lastly I am truly saddened to read about this as I hadn't heard about it before and losing a loved one is very unfortunate.

 

[greentwig]

JW will allow blood expanders.

This is true, I used to be in that religion when I was growing up and my mother was very ummm I cant think of the word right now well...lets just say hard core LOL. Anyways, we had a choice to pick if we wanted blood expanders, and I really cannot remember the other 3-4 choices. Some choose to have no type of transfusion of any blood parts period. Maybe this mother choose to have none. I can understand it for reasons like diseases & what not. Mostly they do this for what is said in the Bible. I personally would not want a blood transfusion. I would want blood expanders, or the other parts of the blood since from what I have read it is less risky in a certain way. I am not exclusively in the religion at all anymore but this was how things were about 2-3 years ago, and I don’t think it has changed to my knowledge.

Well I'm not sure if this helps...

 

[lipstickandhate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeXedPiNk This is a topic that I feel very torn about... and yet something that I have experienced first-hand. Several years ago, a close friend of mine was diagnosed with leukemia. She was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and disagreed with the life-saving transfusions that she desperately needed. She was given some transfusions, against her wishes, and ended up going to court over it. She was only 17 when this happened and her case became a very well known (and debated) case here in Alberta. She asked me to be a character witness in her case, and it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Although I disagreed with her not wanting the transfusions (because of course I wanted my friend to live), I respected her decision. Her religion and the choices that came with it were something that she valued, and fought for. Never in a million years did I ever want to lose her, but I also did not think it was my place to question her beliefs. She eventually succumbed to the disease and her case is still widely discussed. Not a day goes by that I do not think about how much I miss her, and how much I wish that she was still here with me today. But not a day goes by that I do not commend her for standing up for something that she held so dear. Nobody should have the right to decide something for anyone who has the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves. I opted to be her character witness, simply because her character was something I admired. Even in the face of immenent death, she wanted to be true to herself and her beliefs.

I have to say, this is one of the most poignant and articulate posts I have ever read on this board. I am sure your friend would be deeply happy to hear that you speak so highly of her and respect her sense of self so much (and b/c I'm not an aetheist, I believe she can and does hear you but that's neither here nor there). Really, this is such a unique expression. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[lipstickandhate]

I think, if you are not religious or spiritual, and I am not criticizing anyone here who is not, it might be hard to understand the idea that there are worse things than death and not everyone is afraid to die. They may not see death as an end. I'm afraid to die but I've known several quite religious people who were not and I respect them deeply for their fearlessness.

Then there's also the maxim that there's no point in being right and dead. I kind of think there are things worth dying for; my religious choices and my rights to make those choices are certainly one of them in my mind. Others, I'm sure, have other reasons. Maybe death for science and logic? I don't know.

I don't agree with the woman's decision and I wish she'd chosen differently. I don't think she's a monster though and I'm willing to bet there's not a day that goes by that she wishes she'd chosen differently too. Ugh, what a horrible story.

 

[MadchenRogue]

Well here is a link that might answer some of your questions
AJWRB presents - Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watchtower and NEW LIGHT ON BLOOD

Aside from the fact that I grew up Jevohas Witness ( I am not anymore, I am LDS)
the belief stems from a biblical verse of not eating blood. BUT, that verse was taken out of context. When it says not to eat blood, in some countries there are customs of using pigs blood, calf blood or even cows blood is used in some of their dishes. For example in Ireland there are blood pies, in Puerto rico you have morzillas which is rice seasoned with pigs blood.
As we all know BLOOD of those animals are dirty. SO for hygienic reasons you are NOT to eat it. HOWEVER, JW takes it to the extreme of saying not to donate blood. As we know, technology has advanced ( although not always perfect) to clean the blood of any impurities to be ready for a transfusion. Like I said this stems from the biblical verse thats taken out of proportion. AGAIN, my opinion.

 

[sitasati]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissChievous Shimmer, I understand your viewpoint fully. I just happen not to agree with it. And, while the USA might not have laws regarding this issue (I'm really not familiar, someone said there were so I don't know if there are laws or not), there are other countries that do. In those places, denying medical care to a child is illegal, and I am glad of that. So I'm just trying to discuss this issue from that viewpoint. And even if there are no laws in the States pertaining this matter, I still think the situation is highly unethical.

There are laws in the states that state if a parent neglects a child the child can be taken away. Negligence can be anything from not sending the kid to school or denying medical care whether or not it agrees with the faith. I've seen many children taken away for this. NYC has state funded health insurance so there is no question of whether the parents can afford it or not. I'm not sure if refusing a life saving procedure due to religion regards to these laws but I hope one day they do.

And YES the government DOES step in and tell parents how to raise their children. THEY do so through children welfare agencies.

Also, what happened to this woman was WRONG. It is absolutely wrong for people to give religion more value than a person's life. That's just my two cents.

There is so much more I want to say. But I just cant put it into words I'm outraged.

 

[Shimmer]

She has that choice. She's a coherent and cognizant adult. That's her choice.

 

[athena123]

I completely disagree with the mother's decision to refuse blood transfusion. To be very blunt, I think it was an absolutely idiotic decision. BUT, I stand by her right to make that decision for her and her baby. If a woman has the right to choose to end her pregnancy, or prevent conception in the first place, she most certainly has the right to opt out of any medical procedures that go against her religion. I certainly don't want any politician or judge to make these choices for me. The US is a free society; with freedom comes choice and responsibility; she had the choice to make a really really stupid decision and did so.