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TOP | RELIGION | CHRISTIANITY

JWs Commit Suicide

To: talk.religion.misc
From: br996@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (K. Christine Callaghan)
Subject: Re: JWs Commit Suicide
Date: 9 Apr 1997 23:01:21 GMT

Nathan Riech (riech@iag.net) writes:
> If that were true you might have sen it on the news, especially
> considering how retarded the local stations get with stupid stories like
> that.  

Nathan, you silly thing...
the reasons it *doesn't* make headlines are very simple:
1. the deaths do not take place in aggregations, they happen
   *one*body*at*a*time*
   *in*various*hospitals*
   *in*various*cities*
   *over*several*decades*

2. hospitals do not attribute the cause of these deaths to
   religious beliefs or the medical directives attached to them --
   more often than not, a patient who dies as a result of refusal
   of a blood transfusion are attributed to the *physical* cause
   of death, such as "irreversible shock", "heart failure", "massive
   hemorrhage", etc.

3. it is difficult for people who are interested in these cases to
   find statistics on the numbers of deaths attributed to refusal
   of blood products on religious grounds, although I have a strong
   feeling that WTS headquarters keeps a record of the number of
   martyrs they have for their cause.

> And you dont get "suicide cards", they are no blood cards, for no
> blood transfusions

They aren't "no blood cards".  They are called Advance Medical Directives.
They are legal documents that states that you do not wish to have blood
products even if they are necessary to save your life.  Other people have
similar Advance Medical Directives, such as Do Not Resuscitate orders, or
Organ Donation Directives in the event that a person cannot be saved.

The difference between the one JWs carry and the others, are that JWs 
essentially enter a suicide-pact with the Governing Body of the WTS,
which is confirmed in writing by means of this Advance Medical Directive.
The AMD also releases the GB from liability should untoward results occur
from the individual's treatment [i.e., brain damage, impaired physical
function of any sort] and delay caused by seeking alternative treatment,
and resultant lack of oxygen to body tissues.  The other difference is
that JWs can become suspect by their congregation elders should they not
have their AMD on their person at any given time.  Persons who have
reservations about signing their "no blood card" are subjected to peer
pressure to conform, since the cards are distributed at a single meeting
once a year, and are to be signed by the card holder and two witnesses
[since it is a legal document] at the end of the meeting.  Under such
circumstances, it becomes questionable as to whether the person indeed
signed of his/her own volition, but the time to debate that is not when
the person is bleeding to death in the ER.

> because taking in blood to the body is condemed in
> the bible.

Taking blood into the body BY EATING IT is condemned in the Bible, and
only to the JEWS and to CHRISTIANS WHO MIGHT OFFEND JEWS BY EATING BLOOD
IN THEIR PRESENCE.

> Get you story straight.
et tu, Nathan


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