AIBU to want JW leaders to be held accountable for blood transfusion deaths.

I saw this and wondered how the families of those who died by refusing transfusions are supposed to feel now that suddenly the rules have changed and it turns out it was fine all along. Did their relative now die for nothing? It must be hard to accept.

Absolutely, it's the only religion that brainwashes and doesn't necessarily have the best interests of its followers. As well as the only religion causing deaths. I can't think of any other religion that is as damaging, mass deaths, extreme control and rules, disadvantaging some of its members, as well as wider society.

Exactly!
Maybe it might make a few actually wake up and question their devotion to this ridiculous evil cult!

There have been many cases historically of children in adolescence who haven't been given blood because they have been deemed able to decide by courts. These children have been hailed as examples to follow by the JW organisation.

The question to me is how would the elders or the congregation know if a blood transfusion was accepted, it is confidential to the patient and family.

YANBU!!
I absolutely agree OP. I too was raised and baptised a JW. It's an evil organisation, my family still can't see it for what it is. It will be hard for many on here to understand if they have no experience with it.

So exactly how many children have died because a court allowed them to refuse a blood transfusion?
In reality, most people need a transfusion when they are very unwell, so I very much doubt there’d be time for the child to go to court to argue against being given any life saving procedure.

People are legally allowed to refuse medical treatment even if they're doing so for reasons that many would regard as, to put it politely, misguided. People are also legally allowed to decide not to talk to a particular friend or family member if that person does something they find objectionable.

I sympathise, I really do. Religious beliefs get a lot of leeway and special treatment under the law and my personal opinion is that that's not a good thing for society as a whole. However in the specific case of JWs refusing blood transfusions I can't see how that could be legislated against in any way that would not also impact personal rights to bodily autonomy.

I agree

I knew a family where the mum died giving birth to twins because of this rule. How are those kids supposed to feel?

I do wonder whether they were ever told, I wouldn’t be surprised if that part was left out of the story.

Can you cite your sources please?

I’m not a JW but I’m related to a lot of people who are.
Who in the organisation would you expect to make the apology? The elders haven’t made these rules, they have followed the rules passed down to them. And if they are elders there’s no doubt they have been a JW for a long time, maybe even since childhood so it’s a completely normal thing for them to refuse blood, they don’t know any different!

I agree OP. And are people who DID take transfusions now allowed into heaven? Will the church now allow them back into the fold after shunning them? What about people who died thinking they were awful people because they had a transfusion? And the people who died because they didn’t. And as a healthcare professional I learned about all this from the internet and no official source so if I saw someone yesterday and went by their previous refusal because they were unconscious am I going to be reported for a preventable death? So many questions

My dear cousin died from breast cancer at age 40.

From what can ascertain a lump needed futher exploration, and for some reason she did not go back.

my aunt claimed that the consultant got angry with them, my sense was that they questioned the treatment process with regard to blood transfusions.

although I cannot be sure about this.

she only returned for help when the cancer mushroomed out of her body.

she was obviously terminal by then.

the worst bit was I did not even know she had died.

our contact was sporadic but all the same.

i was bereft and will never get over that.

thing is they believe the devil is at work everywhere amongst none believers

so tend to limit contact with wider family

@Exjw1975 Thanks I did not know that

Adults are allowed to follow whatever religion they choose, even to their own detriment. Religions are filled with ridiculous rules. Yet people defend them all the time as deeply held beliefs that must be respected.

For children trapped by their parent’s delusions, I believe we should be much more liberal with intervention when religious belief leads to harm or neglect.

The church of Scientology seems much more crazy in their beliefs, but maybe their beliefs aren’t as overtly harmful. How can people believe these things?

Lots of people would die for their religion, those rules could change tomorrow too.
Im not religious so I can't understand it, but I am taught to be accepting of other's beliefs. If a grown adult doesn't want the blood and is prepared to die, so be it.
They won't be the first or last adult to make an unwise decision.

To be honest I was more shocked when DM told me that she was now allowed to wear trousers.
She's been freezing since the 1970s, with cold, stiff uncomfortable joints because she had to wear a midi-length skirt and tights (even outdoors) in the winter. Now all of a sudden women are allowed to wear trousers!
On the other hand, it's her own stupid bloody fault.
Yes, I'm another one brought up in the misogynistic cult, escaped when I was 14, but still angry and bitter about many, many things......

There was a 15 year old lad who refused a transfusion in 2010 after a car accident named Joshua MacCauley. Despite him being a minor, he was still able to refuse. There was a young American girl who died of leukaemia and famously compared having a blood transfusion to rape. This was in the 70s or 80s if i remember correctly. Her story was repeated in JW circles and in their Awake and Watchtower magazines as an example of exemplary faith. I can't remember her name as I've purposefully blocked a lot of stuff out but will try and find out. She was only around her eariy teens, and a picture of her smiling face was featured on the cover of JW magazines, it makes me feel sick thinking about it.

The Church of Scientology's opposition to psychiatry is arguably just as harmful. There's a good chance one of my friends would still be alive if his Scientologist parents hadn't persuaded him that he shouldn't take the medication he'd been prescribed for his mental health problems.

really, you can't think of ANY OTHER RELIGION as bad?
I agree you were unlucky to know JW at such close hand, but they are far from the worst.