Informed Consent

“Informed consent” is a common phrase in medicine and related law.  The term means a patient knows all relevant facts and is mentally capable of making decisions about his or her care. (see Wikipedia.com “Informed Consent”)

This article examines informed consent in a religious context.  When Jehovah’s Witnesses, decide matters of finances, education, medical treatment, or even whether to join the religion; do they have all the information they need to make that decision? Do they have the clear mental facilities needed to decide?

I will submit that they do not.

BLOOD

The Watchtower’s position on the use of blood provides an excellent starting point regarding informed consent.  Do Jehovah’s Witnesses have the information they need to understand the issue?  More importantly, do they clearly appreciate the matter and understand the future implication of their decision? 

Officially, Jehovah’s Witnesses base their decision on a narrow reading of Acts 15:29 which commands Christians to “abstain” from blood.  The Watchtower Society interprets this to include using blood for medical reasons. Officially, refusal of blood transfusions is a purely religious decision.  However, Witnesses believe that their position has a solid grounding in science. 

A review of entries under “Blood” in the “Index of Watchtower Publications” (http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200270859) shows dozens of articles relating supposed evidence of the dangers of blood transfusions.  The number of articles directly related to the religious issues involved is much smaller.  Watchtower publications do not provide any statistical analysis of the dangers of blood transfusion versus the dangers of refusing medically necessary treatment.  This is, of course, the only scientifically valid means of assessing the risks of the procedure. 

For example the June 15, 2000 Watchtower, in a “Questions from Readers” article states “Today, most transfusions are not of whole blood but of one of its primary components: (1) red cells; (2) white cells; (3) platelets; (4) plasma (serum), the fluid part. Depending on the condition of the patient, physicians might prescribe red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma. Transfusing these major components allows a single unit of blood to be divided among more patients. Jehovah’s Witnesses hold that accepting whole blood or any of those four primary components violates God’s law. Significantly, keeping to this Bible-based position has protected them from many risks, including such diseases as hepatitis and AIDS that can be contracted from blood.”

Note the article provides no information about the relative dangers of contracting AIDS or not accepting the transfusion.  Based on this information only, a Witness may conclude that medical science believes that refusing blood is a safe alternative.    

Also noteworthy is dividing blood into major and minor components.  Modern medicine does not recognize this idea.  Many Witnesses do not understand this, and do not know the difference between allowable and forbidden blood products. For example, after the birth of our first child my wife decided to take a gamma globulin shot to treat an Rh incompatibility.  A few months earlier, a good friend nearly lost her second child because she had previously refused the same treatment because it contained blood products.  

In another example of distorted science a July 2008 issue of “Awake!” magazine reported that a Duke University study stated that “Blood transfusions with banked human blood may do more harm than good for a majority of patients.”   Typical of most articles in Watchtower publications this one contained no reference locating the original source of the quote.  A Google search revealed a Duke University press release on the subject. (http://olv.duke.edu/About/News/20071008112145282)   which contains this paragraph:

“Transfusions are still critically important, however. ‘Banked blood is truly a national treasure that needs to be protected,’ Stamler said. ‘Blood can be life saving, only it is not helping the way we had hoped and in many cases it may be making things worse. In principle, we now have a solution to the nitric oxide problem--we can put it back--but it needs to be proven in a clinical trial.’”

The Watchtower simply did not address this part of the report, which did not support its position.   The average Witnesses does not know that the Watchtower slanted the information and believes that a Duke University study supports his beliefs on blood transfusions.  In my opinion the Watchtower deliberately deceives its readers, rather than informing them of all relevant facts.

Remember that the Watchtower teaches its followers to rely on the Society’s publications over all other sources of information.  The Witnesses’ internal filters make a clear appreciation of the facts about blood impossible. In other words, even presentation of scientific evidence will not sway a Witness from refusing transfusion. Thus, although medical science does not recognize the Watchtower’s division of blood in major and minor components, Witnesses firmly believe there is a solid scientific basis for this reasoning.  This, in turn, leads to terrible decisions based on a faulty understanding of both the scientific and religious issues. 

The May 22, 1994 issue of the Awake! Magazine contains a truly heartbreaking article.  The cover of this magazine features this picture.

Only upon reading the article do we discover that these happy smiling children are all dead because they refused (or their parents refused for them) to accept life-saving blood transfusions.  To this picture, we can add the thousands of adult Witnesses who have blindly accepted the Watchtower’s teachings on reasonable medical treatments.

I can only rejoice that my wife and I never killed one of our children over this unfounded and unscientific doctrine.  

My next article will examine the Watchtower's slanted advice regarding education, and by extension, career choices.