Death from TRALI?

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A hard look at images above reveals perhaps the most troubling aspect of Watchtower teaching. The organization is willing to lead its membership to a sense of safety knowing full well that sense of safety is false.

Both images come from the same source. Both images are aimed at the same audience. One image warns. The other image comforts.

But there is a big problem with these images. Undislosed to readers is that the two presentations overlap so that those taught to think they are safe from the danger are actually exposed to that very danger.

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Few things are as dangerous as deception about what is safe. If a person is convinced a product is safe then caution is often cast to the wind.

Danger! Danger!!!

For decades the Watchtower organization has spent lots of ink sharing dangers of blood transfusion. It is true that blood transfusion carries risk, just as is transplantation of any other live tissue.

But we are safe!

For decades the Watchtower organization has also told Jehovah’s Witnesses that products used by their community under Watchtower's blood doctrine are safe.

In 1989 Jehovah’s Witnesses were given the following information to share with anyone who would listen to them, including their own membership and children[1]:

In 2009 children of Jehovah’s Witnesses were given the following piece of information to share with their peers and anyone who would listen to them[2]:

Misled

Is it true that transfusion products accepted by Jehovah’s Witnesses under Watchtower's blood doctrine do not carry risk?

Since the 1990s a condition identified as transfusion related acute lung injury (TRALI) has killed hundreds if not thousands of individuals. Like any other tissue transplant, the risk of this disease is weighed by medical doctors against benefit to the patient. Nevertheless TRALI is a known danger related to transfusion of blood product. In 2006 the Watchtower organization presented the deadly danger of TRALI to Jehovah’s Witnesses this way[3]:

Well guess what? Products accepted for transfusion by Jehovah’s Witnesses carry risk of TRALI.

Here’s what the medical literature has to say[4]:

All the blood products underlined in the above image are accepted by Jehovah’s Witnesses under the Watchtower organization’s blood doctrine. And, all of those products are associated with TRALI.

It is false for Watchtower to tell Jehovah’s Witnesses and everyone else that transfusions accepted under its doctrine do not carry risk. Because Jehovah’s Witnesses accept product extracted from the same blood supply as everyone else does, they are exposed to blood borne pathogens and associated disorders.

Falsehood and lie

Every time Jehovah’s Witnesses tell folks they accept transfusions that do not carry risk of disease they are telling a falsehood. Given all the research Watchtower staff does on blood transfusion it is inconceivable that it is unaware of this fact. Awareness of this fact makes Watchtower leadership liars for teaching Jehovah’s Witnesses as it does.

Truth promotes safety

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not protected from blood borne pathogens by accepting products that are acceptable under Watchtower doctrine. For sake of making informed healthcare decisions Jehovah’s Witnesses should be made aware of this information.

Imagine the sense of abandon felt by one of Jehovah's Witnesses faithful to Watchtower's blood doctrine upon learning a loved one died fron accepting one of "the kind of transfusions that don't carry the risk of such things".

Just like everyone else, Jehovah's Witnesses need and deserve complete honesty from anyone who takes it upon themselves to present healthcare information to them.

Marvin Shilmer
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References:

1. Reasoning from the Scriptures, published by Watchtower, 1989, p. 74.

2. Watchtower’s Version of “Truth”

3. Awake!, published by Watchtower, August 2006, p. 7.

4. Holness et al, Fatalities Caused by TRALI, Transfusion Medicine Reviews, July 2004, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 184-188.

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