Why do some patients refuse blood transfusions?
• Risk of disease. • It is now widely known both among medical personnel and the general public that blood transfusion carries with it substantial risks. However, this is not the reason a practicing Jehovah’s Witness refuses to accept a blood transfusion. The primary reason is that in their view the Bible prohibits the taking of blood into the body to sustain life. Pertinent Scriptures include Acts 15:19-21, which says “Abstain… from fornication and from what is strangled [unbled meat] and from blood.” This command was given by the apostles to all Christians, based upon several prior commands from God: the order given by God to Noah at Genesis 9:3,4; multiple similar commands appearing in the Mosaic Law eight centuries later, at Leviticus 7:26,27; 17:1,2, 10-12; and Deuteronomy 12:22-25; and repeated for emphasis at Acts 21:25. These verses, of course, do not use modern medical terms to prohibit the use of blood. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses feel these Scriptures clearly preclude them
Related Questions
- Why do some patients that refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons accept Labeling or Tagging of their blood?
- Why do some patients that refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons accept the use of a Epidural Blood Patch?
- Why do some patients refuse blood transfusions but accept fractions derived from blood that was donated by others?
