The Witnesses who died after refusing a blood transfusion would have probably died anyway. Blood doesn save lives, does it?
ANSWER In some cases of severe injury (terminal cancer, 95% burns, smashed-in head, for instance) transfusing blood to optimum levels may only increase the chance of survival modestly. In other cases where there is no concurrent problem besides the severe anemia (bleeding from an ulcer that has been surgically fixed, bleeding from a cut artery, for instance) blood transfusions may be genuinely life-saving. The benefits of blood transfusions depend strongly on the clinical context.
Related Questions
- Why is it that Jehovahs Witnesses are allowed to accept so many blood fractions when they are unable to give blood to save the lives of others?
- Does NPSG.01.03.01 apply to the receipt of blood or blood products from the blood bank, or only to the transfusion itself?
- Why won Jehovahs Witnesses accept blood transfusions, even when their lives are in jeopardy?
