Management of blood loss in Jehovah's Witnesses

BMJ 1995;311:1115-1116 (28 October)

Editorials

Management of blood loss in Jehovah's Witnesses

Recombinant human erythropoietin helps but is expensive

The Jehovah's Witness religion was founded in the late 1870sby Charles Russell in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There are 5million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide and 125000 in the UnitedKingdom. Members of this sect do not accept blood transfusions,a stand based on passages from the Bible, such as this fromLeviticus: (xvii) "As for any man who eats any sort of blood,I shall certainly set my face against the soul that is eatingthe blood, and I shall indeed cut him off from among his people."Blood transfusion is interpreted as the eating of blood, andJehovah's Witnesses believe that all hope of eternal life willbe forfeited if transfusion is accepted. Autologous transfusionis also prohibited because they believe that once blood hasleft the body, it is then unclean. These prohibitions presentethical and clinical challenges to doctors who look . . . [Full text of this article]

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