This site is a good one to learn the religious belief behind not accepting blood transfusions;
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witness5.htm
The basics are as follows:-
Witness' beliefs and teachings about blood:
The
Jehovah's Witnesses urges its members to refuse to accept blood transfusions and to not allow them to be given to their children. This is based upon four passages in the Bible which they interpret as prohibiting the consuming of blood:
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Genesis 9:4 "
But flesh (meat) with...blood...ye shall not eat"[/FONT][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]
Leviticus 17:12-14 "
...No soul of you shall eat blood...whosoever eateth it shall be cut off"[/FONT][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]
Acts 15:29 "
That ye abstain...from blood..."[/FONT][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]
Acts 21:25 "
...Gentiles...keep themselves from things offered to idols and from blood..."[/FONT][FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]
The faith group once interpreted "
eating" of blood in its most general form to include accepting "
transfusion of whole blood, packed [red blood cells] RBCs, and plasma, as well as [white blood cells] WBC and platelet administration." L.C. Cotton, associate director of Jehovah's Witnesses hospital information services, said: "
We feel that the Bible clearly indicates that blood is sacred and it is not to be used for human consumption. Though it doesn't discuss it in medical terms, Jehovah's Witnesses feel that would preclude the acceptance of it in a blood transfusion."
18 Essentially all other Christian and Jewish faith groups interpret these same passages as referring to dietary laws; i.e. to the actual eating of meat containing blood.
Witnesses are also urged to "
discontinue their chemotherapy treatments when platelet transfusions are needed."
2 Because Witnesses believe that any blood that leaves the body must be destroyed, they do not approve of an individual storing his own blood for a later auto-transfusion.
3
There appears to be a significant movement within the medical community to minimize or eliminate blood transfusions during surgery.
8,9,10
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