Print this pageOur View of Medical Care
Blood Transfusions
Why don’t you accept blood transfusions?
We follow the Bible command, found at Acts 15:20, Acts 21:25, and elsewhere, that Christians must “abstain from . . . blood.” Jehovah’s Witnesses request the use of nonblood medical alternatives, which are widely accepted and used by the medical community.
Alternatives to blood transfusions
Jehovah’s Witnesses request nonblood alternatives, which are widely used and accepted by the medical community. We do this because of the Bible’s command to “keep abstaining from . . . blood.” (Acts 15:29; see also Genesis 9:3, 4; Leviticus 7:26, 27; 17:1, 2, 10-12; Deuteronomy 12:23-25.) While we refuse blood for religious rather than medical reasons, many have acknowledged that this refusal has helped the Witnesses to avoid contracting many costly and fatal diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis.
Since the Bible makes no clear statement about the use of minor blood fractions or the immediate reinfusion of a patient’s own blood during surgery, a medical process known as blood salvaging, the use of such treatments is a matter of personal choice. We accept reliable nonblood medical alternatives, which are increasingly recognized in the medical field.
The medicines and surgical techniques used in place of blood are so effective that doctors now offer them to patients who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses. Professor of Law Charles H. Baron wrote that “not only Jehovah’s Witnesses, but patients in general, are today less likely to be given unnecessary blood transfusions because of the work of the Witnesses’ Hospital Liaison Committees. Patients in general enjoy greater autonomy over a whole range of health care decisions because of the work done by the Witnesses as part of an overall patients’ rights movement. And the causes of freedom in general and religious freedom in particular have been advanced by the Witnesses’ dedicated resistance to efforts to force them to take action inconsistent with their religious beliefs.”
Educational videos
No Blood—Medicine Meets the Challenge
This documentary presents case histories along with fascinating interviews to help viewers understand what nonblood alternatives are and how they work.
Transfusion-Alternative Strategies—Simple, Safe, Effective
In a spirit of respect and cooperation, Jehovah’s Witnesses desire to share with medical professionals everywhere some of the findings of the leading medical authorities in regard to transfusion-alternative strategies.
Transfusion-Alternative Health Care—Meeting Patient Needs and Rights
Health-care professionals are keenly interested in meeting each patient’s medical needs. Thus, they welcome new therapies and approaches that can help them do this.