Canadian internet petition calling to make it illegal to refuse a blood transfusion

February 24th, 2007 | Posted in: , Blood & Medical Issues | Keywords: , | 169 Comments



Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusionJean-Claude Lavoie, a 26 year old Canadian Jehovah’s Witness, died in December 2006 after refusing a blood transfusion while being treated for an intestinal tumour, the Canadian TQS television network reported.

Former Jehovah’s Witness Jonathan Lavoie, Jean-Claude’s brother, has since launched an internet petition (written in French) calling on the federal government to make it illegal for a person to refuse treatment on religious grounds.

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons,” Jonathan Lavoie writes on the petition’s website. “This creates enormous stress for the family.”

Jonathan maintains that his brother would still be alive if he had received a transfusion.
But Jean-Claude’s father told TQS he is willing to accept his son’s decision: “At the beginning it was anticipated that in his case they would be able to operate without a transfusion, but there were complications. It’s unfortunate, but it came to that. It’s important to respect Jean-Claude’s choice.”



169 Comments

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Comment by BC (Comment ID: 317343)

It is wrong to force a blood transfusion on anyone, it is a medical treatment that everyone has the choice to take or to choose an alternitive, just as with other medical treatments, the patiant has the right to choose which treatment he wants for himself and his family. I know several medical proffesionals who are not JW’s who would NEVER accept a blood transfusion because of the risks involved.



Posted on May 28, 2008 at 8:58 pm


Comment by otto marconi (Comment ID: 317360)

for BC,
yes in fact that is a personal choice, quite different from a group of cultish leaders that invent that God requires not to get transfusion.
Furthermore those who, as you say don’t accept blood, they do that on medical grounds, NOT religious. Moreover those same people would doubtlessly accept blood in emergencies.

And above all it is murder deciding against life and for death over one’s own children. Since no-one should be forced to accept blood, no-one should similarly force anyone NOT take blood by any form of psychological conditioning or whatever. It’s a personal decision not that of TERRORISTS like the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger who smear God’s face with their abominable and steaming excrements.
BC if you’re a witless you’re a plaguish monstrosity in psudo-human shape just like all of them. Please remain where you are, you don’t belong to the human race as we know it, with all their flaws, but still human not MASS MURDERERS.



Posted on May 29, 2008 at 12:17 am

 
 

Comment by crushed but not extinguished..yet (Comment ID: 317287)

Hi!

They can indeed be challenged in a court of law. You need to contact a lawyer that will take these kinds of cases. Check:

Regards, user service

KeyPublisher skrev:

Can Religions that promote and enforce slander, libel, and discrimination of former members through written material that states because they choose to no longer be apart of the church, are of substandard moral character, inferior, and undesirable, and are to be stigmatized by shunning, be challenged in a court of law?

Since the 1st amendment appears to be an enabler for destructive religions that spin civil,human rights offences. misrepresentation, libel and fraud into protected “eccleiastical priviledge” why not fight fire with fire by bringing this conduct to court in the language that they can work with?!! So much documented misrepresentation of fact, citations, fraudulent medical advise, those who want to walk away for the unethical behavior, are slandered, as documents state, promote and enforce, any former member to be treated as substandard moral character, inferior, deviant, undesirable regardless how they leave. The above inquiry was made and anserwed in the affirmative, is anyone able to begin a class action suit, has any of us had a good read of church bylaws, were we not uninformed consenters?



Posted on May 28, 2008 at 7:13 am

 

Comment by Romeo Brown (Comment ID: 314361)

Come on now, people, to say that taking a blood transfusion will save your life is an absurd exaggeration. I know many people who have had cancer or some other disease and have taken a blood transfusion and have died. My finance was one of them. So taking a blood transfusion is no guarantee to live. We are all human and we die. That is a fact of life. People die everyday who take blood transfusions. I would be willing to bet that if there was some statistic on people who have taken blood transfusions and have died you would probably be shocked. There are thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses who go to surgery everyday without blood transfusions and live. So to say that taking a blood transfusion will save your life is an exaggeration. Taking a blood transfusion is no guarantee that you will live. It can be likened to having surgery to remove cancer. Many people have the surgery and still die. There are no guarantees.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20061224/ai_n17077094
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080103134411.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071201082321.htm

Some people’s exaggerations are quite extreme. It seems that their quite bitter disposition has affected their good judgment. No religion is perfect. That includes Agnostics, Atheism, Science, Politics, etc. Yes they all are a religion. Look it up. Religion also means a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. So almost everything one believes can be a religion. What you now believe is a religion and it is not a perfect belief. Religion is not just worship to a deity. None have the truth as far as I am concerned, but to say that Jehovah’s Witnesses are the worst of the worst is just ludicrous.



Posted on May 6, 2008 at 11:59 pm


Comment by Fri (Comment ID: 314446)

Romeo or is that Juliet? Taking a blood transfusion is definitely not a guarantee to live. Blood isn’t everyone’s favorite topic. In fact, you’d probably feel a lot better if it just stayed inside your body where it belongs. But blood transfusions save lives every day. Hospitals need blood for people who are injured, as well as for patients having heart surgery, organ transplants, cancer treatments, and treatments for other diseases that affect the blood, like sickle cell anemia. In fact, about 5 million people each year in the United States get blood transfusions. In almost every situation, the benefits of having a blood transfusion far outweigh the risks.
If you do a search on the web you will notice lots of people who died from not taking blood transfusions. Compared to very few who died for being given the wrong blood or similar matters, which the problem is not the blood but human error. You do not see a case of someone dying from taking blood, as that only increases the change of expanding your life.

And yes jw’s are the worst of the worst!



Posted on May 7, 2008 at 4:28 pm


Comment by otto marconi (Comment ID: 314598)

to Fri and Romeo above,

Hi Fri, your answer is complete. It’s then made perfect by the last sentence, ‘and yes, the jehovordure are the worst of the worst!’.

But why?
Well, these evil monsters are directly responsible of thousands and thousands of very dead people, an appalling number of which are children and babies. They have glorified this bloodbath in their litera-trash comparing them with the useless and masochist suicides of early christians in the first century Roman arenas. It follows that the Towers of All Terrors advocate and glorify SUICIDE.
In the case of first century children then it was mass-murder of the christian parents who quite literally “dumped” their children into the mouths of lions to follow the ludicrous and blasphemous scarecrow known as jesus the christo.
Above all the jehowhores advocate and pray and drool and squirt at the hope of seeing planetary carnage for all those who exercise their right not to belong to their genocide-loving & obsessed murderous sect.

After all, hadn’t their jeeper-creeper leader said to slash the throats of all those who refuse to have the scarecrow as king to reign over them? Please read Luke 19:27.

To Romeo: ya first gotta get back to kindergarten and work your way up to basic education in the hope that you will better understand what you read and are told. Shelley’s Frankenstein cognitive work still outshine your very crude and primitive mouth-running skills.



Posted on May 8, 2008 at 8:54 am

 

Comment by nana (Comment ID: 316587)

well i dont believe that if you takes blood you will live because there a changes you will still died and i know a lot of people who took blood and did make it. not taking blood depends on your choice and i believe not to take blood because of such reason….there might be human errors and the blood would not be check properly and also because transufusion is wrong in God eyes….God though us to stay away from anything dirty such as blood. i guess everone have a believe and other people believe should`nt be call worst. that man should`nt try to do anything because his brother died,he should know his brother made his choice to not take blood.



Posted on May 23, 2008 at 12:52 am


Comment by otto marconi (Comment ID: 317856)

to nana

you try to blabber out something like no one shoud call another the worst.
This is very true, especially after reading your post. In fact we have now to redefine the concept of worst thanks to you, whose ideas, spelling and grammar are so way beyond the pale that calling you ideas the worst would be paying you a compliment.
You are mentality and stature are really up to your nickname: “nana” in Italian mean in fact DWARF. Of course no offence to short people but only towards your mental dwarfism. Flush yourself down there, do a favor to the universe.



Posted on May 31, 2008 at 8:01 pm


Comment by otto marconi (Comment ID: 317978)

to nana

if ya ain’t flushed ye down the cup yet, how dare you say that blood is dirty? tell this in the face of those who need regular transfusions to keep living!
Tell this to those who have had their life saved!
Tell this to those who let thei children die and then realize their horror and quit your jehovahdevil cult!!!
Dirty are all the bloody wars your daemonic sewage-rising jehovordure and his people fought in bible times committing the worst and most unthinkable of wanton sadistic violence OF ALL HISTORY. And now you preach that the same ordurejehovah will do the same thing with all the poeple on earth, but I guess this is not dirty for you.
Only when I think that the US governemnt don’t round you up, all of you jehovordures and lock ya up at Guantanamo I’m not very proud of my country. Cos the whole congress should agree that you jehovordures are the worst criminals ever to crawl on earth and take appropriate measures like with all terrorists.
The existence of all jehovordures like you and the Towers of All Terrors led by the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger (all blind fanatics and TERRORISTS) IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY. You aren’t human beings, animals or plants. You are only a plaguish monstrosity.



Posted on June 1, 2008 at 7:56 am

 
 

Comment by Markus (Comment ID: 317992)

Nana,

I agree with you, it is absolutely and solely the individual’s right whether or not to accept blood.
What burns my ass though, is that good sound minded person’s decisions are swayed by useless unfounded propaganda designed to advocate the feeling of one ‘holding to their faith’.
All you have to do is read the contents of this site and you will see that according the the JW faith allunium pots were not to be cooked out of. The world was to end in 1914 and did not, so goalposts were changed and Jesus did indeed arrive but ‘INVISIBLY’ (ho ho).
6 million of you believe this crock, and no one questions it. Does this not make you THINK. You and the other 6 million odd believe something you have not even given on ounce of thought to.
When and if you unlikely start thinking: How about the Bible being inspired. With over 2000 obvious contradictions and geographic errors you will find it far from inspired, at least by an all powerful entity who never could be so stupid. Did you ever read the gospel of Thomas, yep baby, one of the dead sea scrolls chosen to be omitted by the priests of the time as Jesus was probably more accurately portrayed here than all the other gospels put together. He was described as an anti Roman Revolutionist which kind of rings more true to the reason of his crucifiction than any other, rather than by being killed on the whims of Jewish priests.
Blood is a life saver, no matter how any which way you twist it.

Cheers,
Markus



Posted on June 1, 2008 at 11:03 am

 
 

Comment by Anonymous (Comment ID: 324494)

There are hundreds of cases of people who have contracted diseases and died from blood transfusions. There are many that are in error given the wrong blood type, and their body rejected it and made them more sick. There are also countless surgeons who do sloppy work because “you can just put more blood back into them, so theres no reason to be careful how we operate and how much of the patient’s own blood we lose”.

Irregardless to the medical weight which most people seem to not understand outside the organization is that it is a belief of specific commands from the Bible which were reinforced to the 1st century congregations in the Greek Scriptures telling them to continue abstaining from blood - Acts 15:29. If you are directed by God to abstain or avoid something, wouldn’t that naturally include all methods?

Blood is constantly referenced in the Bible as something holy and special in God’s eyes and represents the creature’s life itself. So if Jehovah demands respect for one item of our own life, and he promises to resurrect any who may die from serving him, it’s a question of faith. Do you believe God can and will bring you back to life? Or not? If you aren’t sure then obviously you would throw your religion away and adhere to the scientific “best bet”.

1 Tim 3, mentioned those having a “form of Godly-devotion, but proving false to it”. Which side are you, the false pretenders of Godly-devotion, or do you have faith in the creator of the universe?



Posted on June 29, 2008 at 7:40 pm

 
 
 

Comment by timeshare (Comment ID: 301905)

i think it should be the patients choice



Posted on February 2, 2008 at 7:57 pm


Comment by Vix (Comment ID: 303264)

If JWs are truthful they have to admit that their stance on blood is a religious one. They are choosing not to take blood because of the scriptures they have been taught that supposedly support their stand. If anyone is refusing a blood transfusion based purely on the actual risks & benefits of the drug (as it is being used therapeutically) then as long as they are of sound mind and and uncoerced this is absolutely the patients choice.

Can you be uncoerced if you’ve been taught that you will die at the hands of God if you accept a transfusion? They may have removed the automatic disfellowshipping rule but the message remains - you will stand in judgement at Armageddon and lose, so
sacrificing your eternal life.

For many the transfusion offered is to support a low Hb speeding up recovery from anaemia - patient choice, medically refusal is a reasonable choice.

Referring to my previous comment, I know of a newborn baby who died at a few weeks old due to rhesus incompatibility, did that baby have a choice? A blood transfusion WOULD have saved her life. This brings me back to the JW conditional love that I have been at the receiving end of. If someone put a gun to mine & my daughter’s head I would take the shot for her. If my daughter needed blood to save her life I would sacrifice mine to save hers. I don’t believe that God would kill me for saving the life of my daughter, after all isn’t blood supposed to representative of the sanctity of life - how can it be OK to let them die if life is sacred?

Jehovah can’t be behind the prohibition, otherwise the gradual watering down of the ban would not have happened. How can it be OK to take immunoglobulins, plasma, platelets etc separately but not mixed in the same bag - what is the difference? If the ban was divine - how could Jehovah change his mind? All the changes have happened since 1914 when Jesus supposedly took power (assuming 607 BCE was the starting pt - whole other issue!) Is Jesus such a poor leader that he can’t guide the congregation the right way in the first place? And if the issue is one of Jehovah not enjoying a perfect channel of communication - ie imperfect humans listening - how can any of the bible be trusted? He supposedly managed to get that message across untainted over thousands of yrs..

So can you really choose to throw away life if you are a Christian? This is one very dangerous religion and I’m desperately worried for my family who are as brainwashed as the rest.



Posted on February 6, 2008 at 4:47 am

 
 

Comment by ray (Comment ID: 298663)

Please think about this:

If the WTS accepts “small parts of blood” can JW now accept small parts of honesty and samll parts of fornication?
The question shows how ridiculus the subject is, it´s only not to have legal problems, after a time they recognized vaccinations and transplants, but can´t accept blood, only to keep their money, they don´t care any more about nice people that obey going door to door, putting first thei own interest.
Just like the reigious sistem that killed Jesus.

Saludos, de Chile



Posted on January 22, 2008 at 5:44 am


Comment by Vix (Comment ID: 299998)

Hi Ray,

Actually they can - its OK to lie if the person doesn’t have the right to that information aka will use it to expose any jw representative as a liar(see elder lies in court), and from personal experience its fine if you’re an elder & questioned about pretty much anything that you don’t want to admit to. Paedolhilia may be reasonably considered by the educated as fornication - and that’s fine too as long as the JW name is kept out of the papers.

And you are right, can you imagine the law suits if the blood prohibition was lifted altogether, practically murder of all the people who were threatened with losing their life at armageddon if they took a transfusion so they refused so they wouldn’t lose their eternal life and lost this one. Already the propaganda machine is in motion - newer witnesses apparently believe that accepting blood transfusions has always been a conscience matter. This is a master WT technique and it constantly amazes me how it continues to work. For all jws out there try comparing what is written in any jw literature with the questions at the bottom of the paragraph & listen to the answers these provoke. What is verbally indoctrinated is also accepted worldwide as ‘truth’ and so cannot be just the readers mis-interpretation of what they wrote. It does remove any liability form the society though should they need to retract anything later on - they never committed anything to paper in the first place. This is a fairly new strategy, learned the hard way and saves them having make sure no older copies of any magazines etc are available, not so easy in the internet age.

I’d hate to be in any JW shoes if armageddon does ever strike, the ‘I didn’t know’ defence is going to be hard to prove..



Posted on January 27, 2008 at 5:16 am

 
 

Comment by vern (Comment ID: 296241)

My wife and Iare ex jws who were deemed to have disassociated ourselves over the blood issue. The elders have called on us many times over the past 5 yrs; trying to get us to return to the org. Each time we have informed them that we have no regrets over my wife receiving 11 blood transfusions. This seems to make no difference, the important thing seems to be that we return for the good of the org. We have been told that we only have to say we are sorry, even though they know that it is not true and we will be welcomed back with open arms. H OW WOULD GOD LOOK ON A RELIGION THAT THOUGHT THIS WAY?



Posted on January 12, 2008 at 1:53 pm

 

Comment by Michelle (Comment ID: 291284)

Hello,
Over the past year I have had 3 surgeries and each time I had to fill out a concent form. And with this form I marked NO beside the area of blood transfusion every time, And then I had to initial the checkmark. My doctor knew ahead of time and my family knows that I don’t want any blood. This is my choice!!!!! Not my sisters nor my mothers choice not even my husbands choice but MINE!!!! I have the right. this is my life, body and choice. Others may not like it but they are not me. I have no right to tell someone else what they have to do. to each one of us we will reap what we sew (correct?) So if I make the choice for someone else and they die wouldn’t I be responsable for thier death? I would NOT want that on my hands!!!! And Our Heavenly Father is the one who gave us life. So with that why would we want to say this(blood) would give life????? This choice is up to the specific individuel who is putting thier life on the line not yours. PLUS wouldnt eternal life be better with our Father rather than in this world?????????
THANKS



Posted on December 25, 2007 at 8:50 pm


Comment by Ron Raymond (Comment ID: 292560)

It is not your choice any more than it was the choice of the members of Jim Jones’ People’s Temple to drink the Kool-Aid. They were unjustly influenced. I hope it becomes a law and not another Jehovah’s Witnesses loses his or her life based on the Watchtower Corporation’s dictates.

Ask yourself, would you work for a company that claimed to be the best company to work for but as a condition of employment you are not allowed to associate w/ anyone that left the company or read anything written about the company other than the company itself? A person with a free mind would say “of course not…sounds like they have something to hide.” What about your religion? Alienated religious cults love to throw around the word “truth”, well if it is truth, it has nothing to hide.

As a JW, you are not allowed to read anything that exposes the reality behind the multi layered cult that has over 100 years of perfecting its deception. If you can’t bring yourself to look at the facts, read something that has nothing to do about JW’s, “Combating Cult Mind Control” by Steven Hassan a journey in and out of the Unification Church, aka, The Moonies.

I know the above was blunt but I hope to see as many people as possible freed from this sophisticated cult. If you can’t honestly look at the facts, I recommend you truly live according to the Watchtower’s dictates; since the “end is near” don’t be a half hearted Jehovah’s Witness (all to willing to practice the cult, family destroying, tactic of shunning but living and working as if this world will continue), do everything they tell you, don’t pursue higher education, put “the Kingdom first”, “trust in Jehovah”, go to Bethel, sell your assets and move to where the “need is great.”



Posted on December 30, 2007 at 11:24 pm

 

Comment by Vix (Comment ID: 297243)

Hi Michelle,
You are right, making a decision for someone that results in their death is a huge responsibility.

I know of a baby that died at 8 weeks old due to rhesus incompatibility. She died of anaemia with a blood count of 1.2, there is absolutely no doubt that her life would have been saved by a blood transfusion, or several.
When I was in my teens taking anti D was forbidden because it was a blood product, now that is OK. its not OK for the hundreds of babies that died 20 yrs ago because the society hadn’t changed their mind yet. Last I heard stillbirths weren’t entitled to a resurrection. Who is responsible for their deaths?

He gave us life to value and enjoy. JW’s are the only group who merrily throw away life on a questionable interpretation, no other scholars i know agree. Alot of Paul’s other ‘commandments’ are not followed to the same degree unless times have changed and now women are not permitted to speak in the cong, and if they want to know anything (heaven forbid they may know more than the men) they should ask their own husbands at home. And before you hail the old testament law to spill animal blood on the floor before eating it - that law was nailed to the stake & if you want to reinstate you’re gonna have to start stoning adulterers and be as Godly as the lawmakers in Iran. But then I guess they may interpret the world’s outrage as persecution for their righteous stand too.

You sound like an intelligent woman, how terrible would it be if Jehovah never meant JWs to sacrifice their children in his name?



Posted on January 16, 2008 at 1:22 pm


Comment by otto marconi (Comment ID: 297754)

and how amusing when you discover that this fictional monster by the name of jeho-ordure never existed in the first place but only in the mind of slavemasters who can’t help buggering totally ignorant people!
read the site ‘STE FREE FROM JESUS’ and enjoy.



Posted on January 18, 2008 at 11:07 am


Comment by Anonymous (Comment ID: 324515)

Any time these blogs go this far from the original conversation one thing always comes to mind. . .

Do YOU offer anything better? No? Then read your Bible, decide who is doing the best to live the closest to what it says. Trashing others may motivate others to leave or to doubt, but if you can’t offer something better then you are saying, hey I dont have a hope, and I doubt your hope, so let’s all just be hopeless and die together.

“Broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it; whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it.” (Matthew 7:13, 14)

Either find a better path and help everyone find it, or be quiet. Otherwise you are proving Jehovah’s Witnesses to be right, and every slander and insinuation makes you a scribe who slapped Jesus.



Posted on June 29, 2008 at 7:57 pm

 
 
 
 

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