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["Melody O." <melody AT crecon.com>]

"In a small study published last summer in the Annals 
of Surgery, Jabbour and his USC liver-transplant team compared results 
for 38 patients — eight Jehovah's Witnesses who did not receive 
transfusions, and 30 other patients who did receive blood — in surgeries 
performed from 1998 to 2001. All eight Witnesses survived, contrasted 
with 27 survivors among the 30 other patients, who received about 4.5 
pints of blood on average."

"The 
fewer transfusions patients get, doctors have found, the less likely 
they are to suffer infections, strokes and allergic reactions." 

"Witnesses have many examples of medical personnel warning that they will 
die without blood — only to be proven wrong. Avila's committee fields 
about 200 such calls a year."

"Staffers at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital jokingly refer to 
suit-clad members of the liaison and patient visitation committees as 
the "Witness Protection" program. They roam the halls, meet with doctors 
and sometimes observe surgeries. Though few have formal medical 
training, they are well informed on medical issues, some doctors say. 
"They know every argument we're going to make and always have an 
alternative," says anesthesiologist Dr. Andy Plisko."

"He attended medical school in India, where blood was often scarce, so 
the idea of doing surgery with little or no blood made sense to 
Malhotra, who, like the other Fountain Valley doctors, is not a Witness."

These quotes are from Tvo's article.

Simply to believe that there is one way to do something is ludicrous.
Because of the HIV scare in the 80's, and concern over hepatitis C viruses
contaminating blood, there were/are many people concerned about
transfusions, not just Jehovah's Witnesses.  For all of those cumulative
reasons, doctors had to push past the norm and look outside the box for
answers.  The result is healthcare that supersedes that of the past.  Take
a look at the results:

"Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, N.J., which operates 
one of the most extensive bloodless management programs for all 
patients, not just Witnesses, has the lowest cardiac-surgery mortality 
rate in New Jersey, according to state statistics."

"Surgeons and anesthesiologists use special techniques and equipment that 
minimize blood loss. They include the Cell Saver, a machine that 
cleanses and recycles blood lost during an operation and pumps the red 
cells back into the body. A procedure known as acute normovolemic 
hemodilution can be used to draw blood from the patient just before 
critical bleeding is anticipated in surgery and replace it with 
stabilizers, pumping the blood back into the patient later."

"Less-invasive surgical tools in the bloodless arsenal include harmonic 
scalpels, which use ultrasound to cut and coagulate tissue; * 
*electrocauterizing devices that can sear blood vessels closed; 
argon-beam lasers; and blood stoppers such as FloSeal, granules of 
specially engineered "clotting factors" that the surgeon dabs on 
bleeding tissue to aid coagulation. Where possible, rather than making 
large cuts in the flesh that cause more bleeding, they do laparoscopy, 
endoscopy and interventional radiologic procedures that kill tumors with 
radio-frequency energy and heat, for instance, making removal of a tumor 
on the lung far less traumatic."

Just as the cliche states, "Necessity is the mother of invention."  Because
of opposition to worn-out techniques, there are now safer, gentler
procedures that greatly benefit not only Jehovah's Witnesses, but anyone
wanting a smarter alternative.

Best wishes,
Melody