This story is typical of media reporting on cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses in that it implies that fanatical parents are willingly denying legitmate, life-saving medical care from being administered to their child. Nothing could be further from the truth. Refusal of a blood transfusion under any circumstances is a perfectly valid option from a purely medical perspective alone, notwithsanding religious objections, and very possibly the wisest emergency health decision to make! The testimony of thousands of highly regarded doctors and medical experts all over the world is readily available to underscore this point. The widespread use of transfused blood is now being regarded by some authorities as the greatest mistake of medical history. The science of bloodless medicine is well advanced, some of the best hospitals in the world are now completely bloodless, and there exist several effective, viable alternatives to the use of transfused blood in the case referenced here. Going further however, the president of Georgia seems to feel that solid, well-established religious convictions are an inadequate foundation upon which to rest issues involving life and death. First, if everyone felt this way the world would not be worth living in, and second Mr. President, allow me the impudence to inquire as to the great spiritual reasons that prompted you to incite a military power grab that resulted in the death of not one child, but of thousands of innocent civilians, along with military personel? I'll not easily forget the pictures I saw of young, dead Georgian soldiers lying on a stretch of rural road, where is the why? There was no why. In the case of these parents there are very deep, profound and meaningful reasons underlyng their decision, and my prayers are with them now.

Starting in 1945, the WatchTower Society has since refused to permit Jehovah's Witnesses to accept blood transfusions. Misinterpreting the Old Testament prohibition against eating animal blood as a routine food item, the WatchTower Society began teaching in 1945 that receiving a blood transfusion was "eating human blood". Jehovah's Witnesses believe that receiving an infusion of human blood into their body's circulatory system is scientifically the exact same thing as eating or ingesting blood into their body's digestive system. "A patient in the hospital maybe fed through the mouth, through the nose, or through the veins. When sugar solutions are given intravenously it is called intravenous feeding. So the hospital's own terminology recognizes as feeding the process of putting nutrition into one's system via the veins. Hence the attendant administering the transfusion is feeding the patient through the veins, and the patient receiving it is eating through his veins." -- The WATCHTOWER magazine, July 1, 1951. Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to acknowledge that when human blood is transfused into their body's circulatory system that the transfused human blood remains to be human blood and continues to function as human blood. Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to acknowledge that if blood is eaten, then the ingested blood enters the body's digestive system, where the blood would be treated by the body exactly the same as it would treat a hotdog, a potato chip, or any other food item. Ingested blood would be completely digested and broken down into proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and waste; which are then either assimilated or excreted by the body. The WatchTower Society uses scriptures which speak about the blood of slaughtered animals to teach Jehovah's Witnesses that blood is "sacred" because blood is the "symbol of life". Then, the WatchTower Society turns around and requires Jehovah's Witnesses to sacrifice their own "life" to maintain the alleged "sacredness" of a "symbol" of the very thing they are sacrificing -- their life. Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to acknowledge that the WatchTower doctrine on blood moronically places a higher value on the SYMBOL than it does on the THING SYMBOLIZED. In fact, the Old Testament scriptures permitted the eating of unbled animal meat, which the Bible equates as eating animal blood directly. In isolated occasions, when humans needed to eat unbled meat in order to sustain their own human life, the Mosaic Law permitted such, but then required the eaters to fulfill the requirements of being "unclean" for a few days. Thus, the Bible recognized that the sustaining of human life was more "sacred" than maintaining the sacredness of animal blood. To do otherwise would be doing exactly what the moronic WatchTower Society does. It would make the SYMBOL more SACRED than the THING SYMBOLIZED. In fact, the WatchTower Society is leading Jehovah's Witnesses to disobey GOD and violate the Holy Scriptures in one of the most serious ways possible. Because humans were created in GOD's image, GOD considers human life sacred. A Jehovah's Witness who sacrifices their SACRED LIFE in order to maintain the sacredness of a SYMBOL of that SACRED LIFE varies little from those who profane life by committing suicide. Those Jehovah's Witness Elders who teach and police this moronic doctrine vary little from common accessories to murder. The Bible is fairly clear in how GOD views murder, and how He deals with murderers. This moronic twisting of scripture would be laughable if not for the fact that it has lead to the pointless deaths of numerous Jehovah's Witnesses in the past, and it will continue to lead to the pointless deaths of many more Jehovah's Witnesses in the future.

SIX TIMES MORE MOTHERS DIE in Childbirth from blood loss among Jehovah's Witnesses. At its core, the Jehovah's Witnesses refusal of blood transfusions is based entirely on faith, not on science (as their own "Blood Brochure" is very specific about). Bloodless surgery as a *preference* may be more popular than it once was, but that is not the issue at hand. The *doctrine* and practice of letting someone die rather than allow the use of blood in life-threatening situations is the real issue. And at its core is the blind adherence to the dictates of an organization of men. The "blood issue" is the JW's Jonestown Kool-Aid. It is their baseless test of loyalty to their Society. Despite the fact that it makes little sense to a silent majority of them anymore, they think it proves their faithfulness to "God's organization" People who die refusing blood, or who let their children die,are considered heroes. The Watchtower has teams of lawyers to protect itself from wrongful death lawsuits.

250,000 Jehovah's Witnesses are DEAD (since 1945) murdered by a man-made ban on blood transfusions. MILLIONS of JW followers including my uncle and one of my grandparents died prematurely from poor care. This is a cult of DEATH

Jehovah's Witnesses blood transfusion confusion Jehovah's Witnesses & blood transfusions is contradictory,they condemn blood but then go and use 'fractions',donated by thousands of Red Cross volunteers.They use 60% of the blood volume as broken down "fractions" then go on Bible thumping rants about how dangerous and sinful blood transfusions are. As a diversion they go and trump the advantages of bloodless surgeries and try to grab the credit for it when in fact bloodless techniques were pioneered by non-JW doctors because of the shortage of blood donors (like with all the JW's who use blood fractions but don't donate back).This is hypocrisy, Danny Haszard

The scary thing is the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower Governing Body get "new light" and change things all the time, their history proves. At one time the GB forbid all vaccinations and then flippantly changed their mandate to being now okayed with no apology for those that suffered or died that would have been otherwise spared. Same circumstance on organ transplants and blood fractions, previously banned (threat of total shunning to its members), now okayed. Could they get "new light" and change their stance on blood transfusions next? Investigate their flip-flops.

Blood transfusion to Jehovah Witness is like psychiatry to Scientologist Same

I have never been able to understand the problems that certain religions have with certain medicines, and while it's at the other end of the scale, contraception is virtually the same issue as the arguments over blood transfusions. I am a practicing neo-pagan, I believe in the God that christians call Jehova, and the in general brilliantness of Jesus Christ (though I am less convinced of his divinity). I also believe that if the creator-god chooses for one of us to die, or to be born, there isn't a single thing we monkey-decendants can do about it. No medical procedure is 100% effective. Nor is any contraception. If a person is not meant to live or die, there will be no amount of science that can prevent the creator-god from ensuring that her plan is followed. The creator-god also gave us brains, with which over millions of years we have used to overcome the vast amount of challenges she has set before us, one of which is how to prevent a child from dying after an accident. One of the solutions we have come up with is blood transfusion, and she would have not made it possible to transfer blood between us if it were not part of her plan. As a neo-pagan I believe: As an adult, it is the right of every human being to refuse medical treatment for whatever reason they like. As a child, one is unable to make these kind of decisions, and thus children should always be given the best medical care possible. It is impossible for a child to become "tainted by sin" by something which is done to them. It is the responsibility of a mother to ensure that her child is given the best chance at a long and healthy life that she possibly can.

Its the parents to make the decision for their under-aged children even when medical situations come up. I hope that this young child does not suffer any ill effects of that blood transfusion forced on the child. If I were the parents, and my child got any disease due to that transfusion forced on the child, I would surely sue the authorities. And the the previous commenters,..........some of your comments are really sick.

Lifelong Jehovah's Witnesses dissident speaks out on JW belief system . A) They are at your door to recruit you for their watchtower society corporation,they will say that "we are just here to share a message from the Bible" this is deception right off. B) Their 'message' creed is a false Gospel that Jesus had his second coming in 1914.The problem with this is it's not just a cute fairy tale,Jesus warned of the false prophets who would claim "..look he is here in the wilderness,or see here he is at the temple." C) Their anti-blood transfusion ban against *whole blood* has killed thousands. D) once they recruit you they will "love bomb" you in cult fashion to also recruit your family & friends or cut them off. ---- Danny Haszard Jehovah's Witness X 33 years

Saakashvilii showed some humanity! It's a miracle! For that little girl, it's a miracle. Good for him. (Wow, never thought I'd say that.)

Something is radically wrong when the President of Georgia gets press like this.

You people argue the precepts of religion and some of you are extremely articulate in your writing. What I find amazing is that obviously intelligent people believe in a mythical man in the sky that answers prays and encourages a personal relationship. How is it possible that through "faith" you can believe in nonsense? I say nonsense with respect not mockingly. Is their a god gene as well as a Huntington disease gene that can determine a person susceptibility to "fairy tails". Human evolution and life will be greatly improved when that question is answered by science. We may be able to put behind us the denying of medical transfusions to infants and the martyrdom of the mentally ill for 72 virgins. It is not possible in any area of human behavior other than religion to believe such impossible myths. As a child grows it discovers the "Tooth Fairy" and "Easter Bunny" are made up stories. Why do some continue to teach the equally impossible story of Jonah, virgin birth and resurrection? I don't know of Islam's purported truths but I'm sure they are equally preposterous.

I am so thankful to the use of blood transfisions and the transfusion of blood products. A combination of these kept my nana alive for more than 10 years, 10 years I wouldnt swap for the world. Without these, she would have died. I dont know how a relgious view can deny someone the right to live and spend time with a loved one.

"Jehovah's Witnesses believe that receiving an infusion of human blood into their body's circulatory system is scientifically the exact same thing as eating or ingesting blood into their body's digestive system. " Great, so why don't they suggest to heroin addicts that they can dispense with all those unsafe needles with the associated risks (injected AIDS etc) by simply eating heroin instead of injecting it. If it's really exactly the same thing then eating heroin will have exactly the same effects and be a lot safer.

As a health care professional...I do understand the principle of respecting other people's religion.In this case,we are supposed to accept the parents' decision to not transfuse blood.But that doesn't mean we don't feel any sense of remorse. We took an oath to save lives...and somehow when the barriers made for that is something so simple yet we can't do anything about it.It's just sad...tragic.I've encountered a number of patients under Jehova's Witness,and nobody better than us would understand the pain of looking into those patients'(especially the children)eyes when they are slowly fading away.I know that we have to respect the parents and their religion...but it's painful to think that it feels as if they have chosen their religion over their child or relative. What exactly are those bloodless medicine that you speak of?I'm dying to know as that is something we don't have in my country.I've never really heard of it.Medicine is different from blood...medicine is to cause a specific effect on a person's body for the treatment of his condition.Blood is administered to replace the loss of too much fluid where the body can no longer compensate for the loss.IV fluids are also different.Surgeries require blood to be prepared since in these procedures,blood loss is sometimes inevitable. If there was a way...I know that I'd do anything to let the people I love live to see another day.What if someone you loved had a car crash...lost a lot of blood...the thing he needs the most...what do you think? Maybe I'm too young for my profession...I just don't want to see another person die on me not because of something I failed to do or performed wrongly,but rather something I was fully capable of providing but couldn't because my hands were tied.The people of JW may be at peace at their decision...but I can't help but say the sentiment isn't the same for health care professionals like me.Another thing that makes the world an unbearable place to live in.

Being around the witnesses for over 35 years I have seen the Witnesses trained to fight the superior authorities to the consequence of their own lives and of their children's, as this article brings out. Yet they fail to rationally consider the authority in their own house. Having family that still believes so deeply although existing poorly due to these same beliefs, lets me know this religion is one of the worst in representing anything that Christ wanted us to personally accomplish. I hoped at one time that something would break the Watchtower organization in one fell swoop. I see now that the Watchtower must starve from any new recruits. Articles like this along with the comments simply have to question the validity of their belief system and the seed is placed.

My mother is a devoted Jehovah's Witness. She has had many major heart surgeries and several various other surgeries and never once had a single blood transfusion. They use a cell saver machine that recycles your own blood. Many diseases have been spread by the use of blood transfusions that are not needed, not to mention many other complications. People are judging without being informed. Makes one look like a fool.

Wow, there sure is alot of hate. I'm not going to try to defend the witnesses, but surely we can reach some level of understanding. This is something they clearly take very seriously, and believe very strongly in. Is there nothing you personally would choose not to do to prolong your own life? Perhaps something you object to on a moral level? Untold billions have laid down there lives for principals. Granted, the fact that this case involves a child makes it much more involved, but must we be so quick to condemn? Would you look down on a man who gave his life for his country? Even if his beliefs in his country were wrong, I believe most people would grant him his right to do so.