A young Jehovah's Witness has died just hours after giving birth to twins. She had signed a form refusing blood transfusions, and her family would not overrule her.

How can any mother choose her religion over her new born babies ???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7078673.stm :what?:

I read this yesterday as well.....in disbelief!

lorraine

I too find it hard to believe that this choice/decision can actually be upheld by the believer when it comes to the crunch, but if it is her true belief and she is prepared to die and never see her children grow and her husband and family have no guilt and truly believe they did the right thing letting the mother of these children die in the name of their religion then they have the right to do as they wish, that is the way of the world and free choice in the UK at present.

It is a difficult issue, and not one I can agree with, it seems so unncessary but you have to respect people opinions.

I wish the family well, as it must surely be a testing time, I'm not sure my faith would withstand me watching my partner die when it could probably be easily prevented (plus having to bring up 2 babies on my own)

I cant remember all the details cos it was about 30 years ago.
We had a family of JW's living next door to us in the England.
Their young lad became very sick and needed a Blood transfusion.
The parents refused point blank and the 5 year old died (very very sad)
His name was Junior and I'll never forget him.
Before some one says the Authorities would have intervened, thats what we thought.
But they obviously didn't, or they took too long.
Like I said, I cant remember all the details.

Needless to say any that came knocking at my door got a right mouthful.

Crazy

Me too.....i hate it even more when they bring along their kids all done up in smart suits and dressess etc...

I've found a way to really annoy them though...i speak directly to the kids. I just say simply to the kids...."please will you do me a favour when you grow up?, make your own mind up."

Did this to one family...the mother said 'i'm sure she will!"...grabbed her hand and walked off!


lorraine

My friend back in the uk was a jw - the nicest,kindest lady you could meet.She never forced her religion down your throat - a really good egg.One day we got talking about what would happen if one of her kids was at deaths door and needed a blood transfusion.Without hesitation she said she'd let them die coz it was Jehovahs will - my jaw hit the floor!!!Was never the same after that!

Absolute brainwashed idiocrisy!!!!!......................oh, and selfish too!.. Stuff her if she wants to die, but leaves two kids with no mum. However , that may be a could thing , there maybe a chance the kids will now grow up without being brainwashed by their parents!. The remaining parent might see the light and not force JW down his kids throat!........................

Our decorator is one , as are all his family.
Lovely family , doesnt preach to you .
When i asked him the , "would you let your kids die then" question , he said
"If it was to be"
He also said they may as well be dead , as they wouldnt go to , where ever it is they think they go ,cant remember now, as there bodies would have been tainted , no longer pure.
Thats a good thing to say Lorraine too. Ill remember that when they come a knocking, i just say im an athiest!!
Though the same could be said about christians catholics and jews , remember most people christen their kids as babes in arms. No choice in that either.
Bev ;)

Not really in the same ball park there Bev ;)

Very true Bev, as I, my Family and their Family's have .
Not one a Christian..
It just seems to be the done thing (or it used to be)

'Many believe blood equals life and no blood equals death - it is not that simple',
Jehovah's Witnesses spokesman





http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...sex/7080902.stm

Don't know the ins and outs of JW but wouldn't it be an option to take some of their own blood over time just in case they need a blood transfusion and then they get their own blood back? Just thinking aloud - it's probably not a feasible option but there maybe some alternative option?

There are things that are available to do if there is a scheduled operation, I think the biggest problem is when an emergency arises and there is no time to put in place the necessary equipment and procedures.

In the Uk I had a client who was a JW. She was very funny when telling me about their beliefs. I used to say "what do you do at chrimbo?" She would say have a big party, get p****d and do DIY!!
When I asked about transfusions, she told me there were other ways, I dont fully understand, or remember, maybe a medical person on here can explain, something to do with plasma and the fact the NHS wouldnt provide it as too expensive....theres another debate.
sarah

Never understood this one either, as far as I know it's an old religion and they never had blood transfusions in them days so did some one have the foresight to say if they ever invent blood transfusions we won't allow it for our followers.

nope, only been around since the mid 1800's and only known as Jehovah's witnesses since the 1930's

My husband has just started a new job which is something to do with this. Not sure what he is talking about so switched off but I know he mentioned about taking blood and something about plasma and putting your own blood back. That's about as much as I know. I can't ask him cos he's not here!!! and it's boring!!!

Try what my sister does and tell them you're a devil worshipper: she's not I hasten to add but it does seem to have the desired end result!

I just tell them my son needed a blood transfusion as a baby, without it he would have died, so there is absolutely nothing they can say that would persuade me their teachings are right.

On the other hand, I guess those people who contracted HIV or AIDs (or Creuzveld jacobs Disease) as a result of a dodgy transfusion might wish they HAD been Jehovahs' Witnesses...

Two sides, as ever...

Any discussion about JW's always brings to mind my first ever Billy Connolly live show in which he demonstrated how to dispatch the aforementioned. It's not what you say but what you do. Obviously to get the full benefit of Billy's method you'd need to see or have seen his particular routine. However, I'll do my best to describe the method suggested.

This works best for men. First of all, greet the person at your door in a warm, friendly and interested way. As they begin to relate the virtues of their faith, remain attentive and interested and after approximately 2 minutes, insert your hand into your pocket. While continuing to be mesmerised by your visitor's words of wisdom, proceed to move your hand up and down inside your pocket, slowly at first, maintaining a smooth action but gradually increasing the speed until you have attained a sufficiently vigorous motion so as to divert the focus of attention to yourself and resulting in your visitor quickly losing interest, as it were.

Having tried this on at least 3 previous occasions, I can attest to it's success, particularly when coupled with variations of guttural and gurgling sounds in the throat. I'm always polite though, when they leave I like them to do so in the knowledge that they are welcome at any time to come again!

God bless Billy Connolly.

Alan.

Can't you get arrested for that!!!!!!!!!!

Just so wrong in my opinion.

I used to have a sweet little old lady JW come to my door pushing it and I didn't have the heart to shut the door in her face. Anyway she came one day and said 'I was 80 yesterday you know' so I said 'happy birthday'. 'Oh, we don't celebrate birthdays' she said - so why mention it??????!!!!!!!! She started to get loads more forceful after a while when I actually started to debate with her and turned out not to be so sweet after all.

Louise

This is the latest:

THE husband of the Jehovah’s Witness mum who died after refusing a blood transfusion because of her beliefs is blaming the hospital where she lost her life.

Anthony Gough, 24, claims medical staff may have been negligent over wife Emma’s death – and legal action could follow.

He has told friends Emma, 22, WOULD have submitted to a transfusion – if it had used her OWN recycled blood.

Anthony claims when staff brought in a blood-cell salvage machine for the procedure they were unsure how to use it.

It’s alleged medics were frantically looking on the internet for instructions as Emma died.

The Sun told this week how Emma died from blood loss after giving birth to twins at at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

She had signed a form forbidding a transfusion as they are banned by her religion.


Medics urged husband Anthony to overrule her decision but he said he could not.

Heating engineer Anthony, 24, of Dawley, Shrops, and his family – who are caring for the motherless boy and girl twins – refused to comment last night.

But a friend of the family said: “Anthony and Emma would not permit a stranger’s blood to be used because that would be against their Witness faith.

“It was a question of storing blood coming out of Emma and putting it back into her.

“But Anthony says the staff on duty didn’t know how to operate the machine. He’s angry, frustrated and heartbroken.”

A coroner has opened an inquest into Emma’s death. A spokesman for the Royal Shrewsbury said it had received no complaints about staff conduct, but a full internal inquiry was in progress.

Sounds to me like he could have saved her life, but chose not to! So He will blame the hospital instead!... I wont type what I think :bouncy:

Many moons ago, when my mum was having me, a woman next to her needed a blood transfusion. Her hubbie was a JW and refused to give his consent to save his wife. She died while he sat holding their baby.

My father was livid about the whole thing and had a row with the other bloke about it.

It makes you weep for what could have been.

Libby