About Jehovah witness

Based on various biblical texts, such as Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:10, and Acts 15:29, Jehovah's Witnesses believe in God's law on blood -"Blood is sacred in God's eyes. God says that the soul, or life, is in the blood. So it is wrong to eat blood." The Bible prohibits ingesting blood and therefore Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions or donate or store their own blood for transfusion.

Jehovah witnesses and blood transfusions

Transfusions of whole blood or its four primary components—red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma—is a non-negotiable religious stand for a Jehovah's Witness. Jehovah requires that members abstain from blood. This means that they must not take blood into their bodies in any way whether it’s other people's blood or even their own blood that has been stored. Though they want to live, they will not try to save their life by breaking God's laws, even in an emergency. With respect to their personal conviction, some members have even died after refusing blood.

Implications in emergency hospital treatments

In cases of certain medical emergencies when bloodless medicine is not available, blood transfusions may seem to be the only available way to save a life. In such instances, Jehovah's Witnesses request doctors to provide bloodless surgery as an alternative. In a bloodless surgery, blood transfusion or use of blood products are absent.

Bloodless surgery-a good blood transfusion alternative for Jehovah's Witnesses

Bloodless medicine and surgery programs are a good alternative to Jehovah's Witnesses who avoid regular surgical treatment which need blood transfusions, according to their blood doctrine.

More than 180 hospitals around the world are now offering bloodless surgery for patients going in for operations and emergency procedures that traditionally required transfusions. "Major cardiac, vascular, gynaecological and obstetrical, orthopaedic, and urological surgery can be performed successfully without using blood or blood products," notes D.H.W. Wong, in the Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia.

Bloodless surgery in India by Wockhardt Hospitals

Thanks to the progress in the medical field, Wockhardt Hospitals now offers Bloodless surgery and treatment in India. Bloodless surgery has been successfully performed at Wockhardt Hospitals in such invasive operations as open-heart surgery, brain and spine surgery, total hip replacements, total knee replacements, and minimal access surgery.

A ray of hope for Jehovah’s witnesses in India

This is good news not only for Jehovah's Witnesses, but all patients in general, who are less likely to be given unnecessary blood transfusions which may expose them to the risk of hepatitis or sexually transmitted diseases. Some other benefits of Bloodless surgery include shorter hospital stay, cost-effective treatment, lower infection rates, fewer adverse effects, and also minimizes immune-suppression.