The life of a five-year-old boy with a brain tumor hangs in the balance after his Jehovah’s Witness parents took him from his hospital bed and fled the country with him.
Ashya King was receiving “constant medical care within the UK due to recent surgery and ongoing medical issues” according to Hampshire police.
But his parents, Brett King, 51, and Naghemeh King, 45, removed him from his ward on Thursday afternoon and are now on the run – believed to be headed to Spain.
“The need to find Ashya is now desperate. It is really important that we find him and ensure he receives medical attention at the earliest opportunity,” Assistant Chief Constable Chris Shead has told Sky News.
Ashya is likely to be in a wheelchair or buggy, cannot communicate verbally and is immobile, according to police.
Though it is still too early to know for certain what Ashya’s parents’ motives are, it is worth noting that the issue of Jehovah’s Witness parents imposing their religious beliefs on children when it comes to medical treatment is a growing concern internationally.
Increasingly the legal system is being called upon to grant doctors the powers needed to give Witness children life-saving medical treatment that would otherwise be deprived them by their parents due to Watchtower teachings about blood, which have only been in place since 1945.
It would appear the Jehovah’s Witness community is already closing ranks in defense of the Kings’ actions.
One post on the Hampshire Constabulary’s Facebook page read: “This is my mother’s friend, she has run away in desperation because they cannot accept that there is nothing that can be done for their son and want to look for help abroad. Please don’t judge, they are a very sweet loving family and I can only believe they are doing this because they want to help their son.”
If you know the King family or have information as to their whereabouts, please contact Hampshire Constabulary on 101, quoting “Operation Aquilion” (the number is 0044 1962 841534 if calling from outside the UK).
***UPDATE***
Since this article was published, Ashya and his family have been found in Spain. It has emerged that, thankfully, refusal of blood was likely NOT a factor in Brett and Neghemeh absconding with their son. In the interests of fairness, I am posting the King family’s video where they explain their motivations themselves. Please read this update to the story.
Hi Richard. I have been in the organization for almost 50 years and the reason why we’d think the parents taking this boy away from the hospital without telling the hospital has been told to us over and over again as experiences in the literature as the parent’s responsibility to make sure their child does not receive a court-ordered blood transfusion. We have heard this story so many times in the Watchtower that naturally that is why we thought that it might have had something to do with blood.
Nobody is going to argue that many surgeries can be done with less risk than blood since blood received from another person can be seen as something to be rejected by the patient. It’s in the case where a child is most likely or definitely will die without blood is my problem. If an adult chooses to die for not taking blood, then I say go ahead and take the chance if that is how you believe. But if a child will lose his life for sure because there is no alternative than a blood transfusion, then I would hope that the authorities take the choice away from the parents and let the courts decide. Most Witness parents I think would rather see their child live that way than to die without blood. If the courts take the responsibility away from the parents, then the parents can still go back to their congregation and be considered “heroes” because of their steadfast stand against blood.
Let’s say the child lives because it was a court-ordered transfusion, the choice taken away from the parent’s wish to not have the transfusion, and then what happens later when that child grows up and finds out that their parents decided to let him or her die instead of taking blood. How will they feel towards the parents then when they find out that the “Truth” really isn’t the “truth” after all and his or her parents would have let them die for man made rules that have nothing to do with the Bible?
If a child does die for refusing blood, the parents will get a lot of sympathy for a couple of weeks and for the rest in the congregation, life goes on. They will not feel the pain and loneliness of having lost that child like the parents will. If the parents take the blood transfusion for the child, then everyone in that congregation will look down on the parents for taking the blood.
The only way refusing blood for a child works out is if the child lives and not dies but then like I said, what about later when the child is old enough to know what happened? Not long ago, if a parent let their child have a blood transfusion, they’d be disfellowshipped for it so if they wanted to remain in the “Truth” they had to let their child die.
No parent should be put in that position. It is so easy to talk about what a parent should do in a situation like that when it’s not their own child’s life on the line.
I believe the father!
Its socialized medicine in the UK and that type of therapy is used sucessfully in some of the best cancer centers. Not covered in the UK. Wake up Europe! Socialized medicine is not a great thing. Near us, the University of Houston sees heaps on international patients coming for groundbreaking treatment.
@ JAY
i have read and re-read cedars comments. What part does he need to retract.?
If you can’t be you then be yourself. Truth is as it is.
He said in a response to me that if it wasnt about blood, he would retract.
Jay
Cedars is a genuine guy. I can tell you he will have no problem retracting a statement. But you have to admit that what he says is true, just maybe not in this case. Howeverrrrr I want to hear what the hospital has to say. That would only be fair.
Jw’s claim that they believe in getting medical care in every way, except blood transfusion. So how could removing their very sick child be for any other reason than superstitious belief in religious dogma. That is why I will never again subject my children to the enormous risk of being involved in a stupid religious cult. P.S. A huge shout out of thanks the late Christopher Hitchens for helping me open my mind and start the process of prying my Brain free of all this crazy cult think. And thanks to you, Cedars.
You know what I wonder? I watched the father’s video and they are in dire need to get enough money for the kind of radiation that will pin point the tumor and that makes a lot of sense. In the U.S. not all hospitals have that kind of radiation and you may have to travel a great distance for that kind of treatment and the treatment consists of the radiation for about 42 days. My husband had that kind of radiation and that treatment sounds sound to me. My question is: Will the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society let go of some of their billions to help this family? The father said he’d sell his house to get the treatment. Why doesn’t the Watchtower be a charity for once?
Watchtower charity ? lol
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/107553093621443854580
This occurred because every active Jehovah’s Witness is mentally and emotionally unstable (crazy).
Let’s prove it.
This has nothing to do with blood. These are just two typical crazy J-Dubs. They grab the kid to save his life from Satan’s evil scientists or doctors……….. just like they are conditioned to do.
Let’s suppose they save this kid and beat “Satan’s system”.
A decade from now these same two parents would cut this kid off from the world for gambling, smoking tobacco, (God said tobacco was “good” after he created it on the 6th day”)
or for celebrating his own birthday.
The very defintion of crazy. A cult. Loons.
Save em’ now, disown em at the behest of the GB later. On very loose biblical grounds.
If I could piece together 4 or more scriptures to cement a doctrine for millions I could justify anything. ANYTHING.
They are just two mentally conditioned, emotionally incompetent parents (aka crazy) J-Dubs.
I know too many just like these two.
thank jehovah he will judge with righteous judgment.
you heathens with no faith have no idea what god can do. i know this family will live happy one day.
you clowns interfere in matters not concerning you.
Good article Cedars as always.
Sadly some who have commented are missing the real point here. As you state on your website, you are seeking to give a voice to the silent majority and once again you have done that. It is not to state the motive of this family in particular, you took the time to post the actual video on your link which says authorities as of yet do not know.
This is very unlike the JW religion and how they spin everything. If they were posting this against another religion, they would only have posted the parts of the video about the family’s religion and how they took their son out of the hospital when he needed care and insinuated motives by the use of question. Your integrity to the facts is without question, you showed the whole video and allow the readera to discern the facts for themselves.
As far as bias, consider this. If you knew that your neighbor had poisoned several of his workmates resulting in their death. Would it not be prudent when someone fell ill of the same symptoms to investigate or at least open dialogue about the subject. To ignore what has happened in the past would be ignorant and truly negligent, almost to the point of being criminal, as the next death could possibly be prevented especially when people knew and said nothing. As for all who oppose the article or question it, look up court cases involving criminal negligence and keeping silent when life is involved. You will see that while not every person who suspects something being wrong and says nothing is a criminal. Anyone who clearly knows a pattern of danger and says nothing is often held accountable for their actions, yes criminally.
Even the press knew to question the JW faith as the report shows. Their bias is like ours, based on facts as they pertain to the WT policies and the resulting loss of lives.
My bias or misturst is based on a mountain of evidence. I have a friend who lost his wife during child birth due to placenta previa. She could have lived, but she refused blood. Her daughter is now 22 and has never met her sweet mom. My best friend was seriously injured in a car wreck and the doctors could not give him blood until they found his injuries, he has been dead for 28 years and I miss him. My bias, however does not cause me to misrepresent the facts, nor does it Mr. Cedars.
Does that mean this family left with their child because of the Watchtower? No. It does however give reason for pause and to openly discuss the WT’s crazy ludacrist policies and its proclivity to think it knows better than the medical community when it comes to blood. So often I heard that Brother so and so or Sister so and so received excellent medical care because of the liaison committee. This simply is not true. Consider all of the deaths they cause, nobody speaks of that. Also consider the fact that doctors spend countless hours studying and learning, while this committee goes through a relatively small amount of training and then have the power of life and death in their hands on so many medical matters. Truly ridiculous.
My final thought is this. This family is truly facing a terrible situation and no matter what they thought of the doctors, certainly there was a much better way to handle things. Additionally, Watchtower breeds contempt for doctors by their no blood policies and pseudo medical committees. At the very least, such contempt allows families, no matter how good their intentions to make decisions that they are not best qualified to decide on. Again, I make this statement not as an indictment against this family, rather with knowledge of the true facts, Watchtower policies cost lives and for those aware of these facts, it is borderline criminal not to speak up or to turn a blind eye to this fact.
All that being said, I wish the very best for this little boy and his family. Also I am truly sorry for them and the terrible illness their son faces.
Gary are you a psychiatrist? Or have you study psychology? Are you specialized in human behaviour?
Or have you written only the books of Steven Hassan, who are very usefull, but methods that you can’t generalize, and are still under discussion, by a lot of professors, and Psychiatrist all over the world…(methods are scientifically not proved).
I personally don’t use due influence , or words like psychological pressure, or influence, to stigmatize a Religion or cult, just because I have left this Religion, and I don’t agree with their beliefs…
Let this work done by SPECIALIZED people, and do a lot more accurate Scientific research on this subject, an attend a lot of conferences about subject, like psychological pressure, undue influence..then I hope you will be prudent, in generalizing, and using every story about minorities, in this case Jehovah Witnesses, to promote your theory, that is still under discussion in the prominent world of psychology…
I am very happy to hear the little boy has been found and is OK, and I hope that he can recover from this sad condition. I am sure that his parents were acting out of love for their son.
However, it is true that Watchtower does promote a policy of thinking they know better than the medical profession. I also know of one brother who is fully medically qualified (and an Elder) who made no secret of the fact that the HLC is there solely as a means to police the R&F JWs and they do more harm than good, creating bad relationships between the Drs and their patients.
Setting aside anything JW related, I am sure that his illness has been a terrible strain on all his family, and I wish little Ashya and his family all the best.
Does this have anything to do with being a JW? I think it does.
Every JW has it drummed into them that Dr’s don’t know what they’re talking about when deciding medical treatment, and that Dr’s carry on using blood when it has been shown to be safer not to. The whole point of the fathers video was that he knew better how to treat his son after using Google than a whole team of medical experts. If that isn’t a mirror of the JW position on blood transfusions I don’t know what is.
The father objected to the hospitals planned use of chemo and radiotherapy to treat his son. One of the problems with these type of treatments is that they’re a broad sword and effect other parts of the body producing many side efects including anemia requiring blood transfusions. The proposed treatment by the family was for proton therapy which is much more focused and so has less side effects. Was the families disagreement with the Dr’s all about wanting an alternative treatment which would be able to be done blood free?
I’ve updated the article to reflect the new information that came to light last night. Though the blood issue isn’t yet completely ruled out, it does seem far less likely that this was a factor in their behavior, which I still consider reckless in the extreme. I have decided not to remove the two paragraphs where I mention the blood issue, simply because (a) they contain nothing that is unfactual, and (b) I don’t want to be accused of hiding evidence that I discussed this aspect. It seems better, in the interests of fairness, to give the King family their own say on the matter, and I have therefore included their video beneath the article.
@Cedars
I must be honest I would have been disturbed if you had removed those paragraphs. They are factual.
@jay and any other smug mug. Do you feel better.
Unlike the WTBTS This site has not removed, hidden or lied about comments.
@ john
Us heathens as you put it know exactly what Jehovah (capital J John) can do. Personaly I am wondering when he is going to do it. Stories like this one would not exist if the great God of the universe pulled his finger out. It also might be a good idea If the WTBTS would stop misrepresenting him and giving him a bad name.
Oh and john ………johnnyjonjon what ya doing on this site. Cos you must be back. I mean who can resist seeing if people have responded. I bet you read other stuff too. I hope you did because the truth will set you free.
Good morning Rosie,
I dissagree with you about the subject of the HLC..
I was confronted in my work with several cases of children of JW, and adults that refused blood transfusion..
I had to listen, be an observer, over what was going on , and,to mediate between the two parties, and then whe had to make a decision
The first thing we noted is that the medical staff was very closed, hard against the JW who was telling that at ground of their beliefs whe liked another medical threatment…
The patient was waiting there an hour, and still did not get an answer.. This attitude brought a lot of tension by the patient…
We asked the medical staff if they had another option, what the patient asked.. Yes we can do it, but we will not take that responsability..
At that moment members of the HLC came in, and asked if they could explain alternative medical treatments with the medical staff..
The medical staff agreed, and listened carefully..
The medical staff recognised that in that particular case they could offer them another medical threatment, but would not take that responsability..
I was curious about the reaction of the members of the HLC.. Well they were very polite, and said that the patient would take a decision…
I followed them, when they went to the patient, and I can tell you there was not any form of psychological pressure on the patient from the members of the HLC..
They told him what the alternative threatments where, and then said: now it’s Your choice what you want to choose.. They gave him a hand, and went away…
In several cases where I was involved, I could not found, and also my collegue, any form of psychological pressure as described in the psychological literature.
What we found was a form of ostility , predjudice, from the medical staff, that brings a lot of tension by the patient, what could bring that patiens can take rare decisions.. This is a reaction to hostility, that is not related to religion beliefs..
This reaction we noted also by persons who where not Jehovah witnesses. And where force against their will to accept a medical treathment.
These persons where mental stable, and where not beliefers..
Thus conclusion: be more prudent in generalizing, more research must done before suggesting or alluding things in this area…
Enzo – If the decision to abstain from blood is truly a personal one, perhaps you can explain why intervention by a HLC should be necessary at all?
Sometimes a little restraint before we go balls to the wall about Assuming and Attacking everyone and every position people take. Otherwise we are worse than the WTS themselves. I am a supporter of your website but you were on the way to making an arse of yourself this time friend. Thanks for posting the YouTube for all to see. Maybe we could consider assisting them with the finances ! Eh?
I’m not sure I’ve accused or attacked anyone. I regret assuming a link with blood so quickly, but I never asserted this – at best I only implied it. Unlike Watchtower I am happy to own up to mistakes and make recompense (in this case, by posting the father’s video message prominently, so he could get his side across). As to assisting with finances, that is for each one to decide. The father has come to the conclusion that he knows better than the doctors after browsing a few websites. This is for the professionals to sort out, and if proton beam therapy is a viable alternative I’m sure a charitable fund can be set up in due course.
@AFRICAINE
“Maybe we could consider assisting them with the finances ! Eh?”
Speak for yourself. Maybe the WTBTS could assist EH?
Oh hang on they need that money for law suits.
@enzo
What would have happened if they used their free choice and chose blood.
Many years ago that was the only life saver on offer. Many died. I wonder have you had to make that choice yet. Would you really choose death.
This is a good question Cedars,
The HLC, is not an intervention, and is not obligatory.. If a JW wishes he can ask the HLC to consider if there are other medical threatments to use in his case..
Then it remains to the patient to make a choice..
This is a fundemental right in our Democracy, and legally spoken, we made an inquiry, there is nothing wrong to assist a patient..there are psychological rapports that are favorable for this kind of assistance..
Other religion, or cults can do this also..
I hope i have give you an answer..
Greetings Enzo
Obviously this is only the parents point of view, not the whole story. After all, if you listen to just the WT side of view then all those who leave are mentally diseased and only out for themselves……. He’s slammed the hospital, and I’d be interested to see what comes out in the next few days when the hospital start putting their side across, assuming they’re able to because of data protection.
Folks,
It is good news indeed that little Ashya has been found and that he is in a suitable medical establishment that can care for his needs.
It is a great pity that the Kings felt they had to flee in the first place. My heart goes out to the entire family.
We have also forgotten about the other siblings, they must be scared and sad. I hope that they are receiving comfort and support too.
This case raises many issues that need to be debated by society as a whole. I do not believe that John’s coverage has been biased or unfair. Thank you for placing the family’s video for us to watch too.
We all want what is best for little Ashya and we all wish him all the luck in the world with his ongoing treatment.
Peace be with you
Excelsior!
Enzo – Not really. The HLC gets involved in every instance and needs to be sent away by the patient, which carries its own stigma. If they simply made themselves available on a take-it-or-leave it basis without assuming their ‘services’ were needed, your argument might hold water. But we all know that’s not how it works.
@Enzo’s comment to Rosie: Are you one of Jehovah’s Witnesses? How long have you been one, if you are? I was baptized in 1966 and I can tell you that you have 2 choices when it comes to blood. If you take it, you will be shunned and if you don’t take it you may die.
Anybody will agree that if surgery can be done without blood, that it is the safest. Nobody is going to argue that point. My daughter would have died on the operating table when she had her twins 5 years ago. Her platelets had dropped from 78,000 in the morning to 57,000 3 hours later. There was no alternative but to give her platelets. So, she suffered with a bad conscience for 4 years till I learned the truth about the truth and found out that the Watchtower is a self-appointed (not God appointed) decider for you and me on what the Bible says about blood and she realized she did not sin by taking platelets.
The Watchtower Governing Body is no smarter or more spiritual than you or me. They don’t speak for God and never did. All the liaison committee should do and should ever have done, is to present the good side of blood and the bad side and let it up to the person to decide whether or not to take it. Yes, many times, bloodless surgery is best but sometimes, it is an absolute necessity and the Society or the liaison committee should only present both sides and step out of it. This would cause less stress on everybody involved and nobody should make any decisions for somebody else, except the persons involved in the life or death case. Not some outside men from the Watchtower who know nothing about medicine.
The stress that is on everybody in the Organization, is how the Governing Body (Watchtower) imposes their opinions on all of the rest of us and we either do what they say and die or live and get kicked out. When you talk about stress, the people who cause the stress is the Watchtower.
Look at the May 22, 1994 cover of the Awake magazine and see how proudly the Watchtower is of their policy of how refusing blood transfusions costs of the lives of many of Jehovah’s Witness young children. In 1994, if you took blood, you were disfellowshipped, even children. The Watchtower brags about how their strict stand on blood causes the lives of many children, world wide. What choice would a child have had in 1994 who is faced with taking blood? It’s take it and live or refuse it and die. What kind of choice like that should ever be placed before a child?
The Watchtower is proud of itself for putting us all in that position and they admit that they are no more spiritual than anybody else is, including you and me. Why should I be in the position to make that decision for you and millions of other people with no authority from God whatsoever. Prove to us that God gave them that authority and come back and defend the Society.
It is so easy talking about refusing blood when it’s not you or your child who will die without it. The doctors think Jehovah’s Witnesses are crazy and we are or were until we woke up to the real story behind the Watchtower history. I was also crazy and didn’t know it. No crazy person admits to being crazy. They all think it’s the other person who is crazy, not themselves. Believe me, when you are willing to let your child die because of the opinions of 7 imperfect men in New York, you would have to be delusional.
The Liaison committee is just the watchdog over all of us to make sure we don’t take blood. They don’t have to go home and suffer the pain of losing their child that’s on the operating table. They are the right arm of the Society when it comes to forcing it’s rules on us, no matter whether we live or die.
All we are to the Watchtower is a big fat nothing. I, for one, think I am something and I won’t be treated that way anymore. They have no authority over us. God never appointed them over me or you. You need to do some research about the real history of the Organization that you so proudly stand up for. You will be amazed at what you find out. That is, if you aren’t afraid. If you really have the truth, your religion should be able to face up to scrutiny. We ask all those we studied with us to scrutinize their religion but the Watchtower forbids you to do the same with your religion. Why is that? Maybe because they know that what you find out will make you decide that they are liars and have lied to you all along and want nothing to do with them anymore. Don’t defend it unless you know what you are defending. We know 100% that you are being lied to. Don’t be afraid. If you have the “truth”, it will stand up to lies.
Enzo,
The basis for the HLC is to try to enforce an eronious interpretation of scripture regarding blood.
Should a religion have the power to dictate through undue influence the personal medical decisions of patients?
Some have pointed to the historical problems of blood transfusions as justification for this. It does not justify favouring a “Holy Book” and a wrong expansion of dietary laws over scientific research.
There is plenty of evidence from personal experiences of ex JWs that they were placed under extreme pressure to conform with the WTBTS’ stance on blood, regardless of medical advice.
You castigated Gary for his comments. You asked him if he has studied psychology. Does one have to study psychology to recognise undue influence?
I at no time stated categorically that the Kings absconded from the hospital because of the blood issue. I simply made the point that, due to the history of JWs refusing certain treatments, it should be included in any investigation of this case. We still do not have all the facts.
I think it is perfectly acceptable to use terms such as “undue influence” to explain the activities of the WTBTS.
John has just participated in a Conference ABOUT undue influence that was attended by Psychologists. I suggest that you read the article.
John (not Cedars)
I am not a “clown” for being concerned for the welfare of a five year old child. I see it as my duty as a citizen to be concerned for the welfare of children in my country. Don’t you concern yourself with the welfare of children where you live?
I am so glad that the family can now be given assistance and that little Ashya is in hospital. The Kings and the medical team who is caring for Ashya can now debate and discuss what to do to continue caring for this very ill little boy.
Peace be with you
Excelsior!
Hey Cedars,
It seems to mee that you have to make more accurate research, before making some statements.
You are not open to any other opinion about JW..
I am not spending my time in debating with you..
You are good in attacking other people who don’t have the same opinion as you..
You are blaming the GB of the JW, but you use the same tactics…
A asked a question yesterday: do you have statistics from scientific Literature about how many JW’s refuses a medical threatment?
I am still waiting on an answer..from your side..
Thus, before you debate with others: make accurate and if needed scientific researches, be more prudent in suggesting, alluding things if you have a lack of information.. Otherwise you will slowly loose your credibility from members with a good judgement..
And it will be called not Cedars survey but: Cedars sensational news articles….
Greetings..
If you don’t have time to debate with me, then it seems you are the one who is not open to any other opinion about JWs – not me.
Here is one thing I don’t have time for – people who accuse me of “attacking” them simply because I refute their poor logic, and silly questions that do not deserve an answer. I do not need to present statistics of how many JWs refuse medical treatment to assert that their doing so has killed thousands since 1945. There is already more than enough statistical evidence to point to such a conclusion. One medical study in New Zealand (“Clinical benefits and cost-effectiveness of allogeneic red-blood-cell transfusion in severe symptomatic anaemia”) revealed that 21 Witnesses died across four hospitals due to refusing blood between 1998 and 2007 alone. It doesn’t take a genius to extrapolate a body-count of thousands worldwide based on those figures.
It seems that if anyone needs to do their research here, it is you. And I suggest you start with the book Crisis of Conscience.
Out of interest, and because a google search is not bringing up clear answers, can someone help.
1. How does the HLC get involved in the first place. How do they know.
Enzo. We have been trying for a very long time to find out from the Society how many die each year from refusing blood and they won’t tell us. Yes, if we could find out, we’d all like to know. Why don’t they tell us? Maybe because we would shocked? What they don’t say, says an awful lot. They also won’t release how many on file in New York are sex offenders either. Why is that? What they don’t say, says a lot.
I’ve just had to delete a couple of comments from posters who are trying to coerce people into making PayPal payments to the King family. Obviously there is already a link on the video, and people can spend their money however they like. If you choose to send your money to parents who (in my view) are acting recklessly, against medical advice, and who think they understand the complexities of brain surgery after browsing a few sites on Google, that is your decision. Any attempt to coerce others to do the same will not be tolerated on this website.
Sorry Cedars. I was surrepticiously trying to find the site, by getting the link, so I could check it out. I am too busy donating to my Grandsons charity. You know by my comments that I am absolutly with you on this topic. I didn’t think. Apologies again.
In fact this afternoon I am dressing up as a huge mascot and parading around raising funds. Gods Kingdom wont help him. So I must.
Folks,
This point needs to be made clearly about the blood issue.
The JWs refuse blood because of their, in my view wrong, interpretation of the prohibition of blood found in the bible. The scriptures they use are clearly concerned with INGESTING blood, but they extend this “abstention” to using blood in medical procedures.
The verses refer to eating or drinking blood. The bible writers would have had no idea that, hundreds of years in the future, blood could be used for medical procedures.
This is the main point. Even if blood transfusions were 100% safe and 100% effective Jehovah’s Witnesses would refuse a blood transfusion.
The WTBTS use the data on issues with blood, such as some people getting ill because of a blood transfusion, to present an argument that avoids the statement I made above.
This is the truth. Even if blood transfusions were 100% safe and 100% effective the Jehovah’s Witnesses, under the rules of the Governing Body, would refuse a blood transfusion on RELIGIOUS not MEDICAL grounds.
Peace be with you
Excelsior!
very well stated, and necessary for a good understanding of this issue. thanks
The blood issue was the one topic I used to dread coming up in the field service. I used to divert the question ‘to the dangers of blood transfusion (1980’s) I used to proudly end saying “in fact if I was not one of Jehovah’s Witnesses I would still not accept a blood transfusion”
Ask me this question today. I would NOT refuse one if it was going to save my life.
As far as the cancer treatments are concerned, there ARE differences among the doctors, as far as the methods they use, the possibilities and even the diagnosis they come up with.
If I believe the scenario I see on this video, he did very well. And it has nothing to do with the fact that he is a JW or not.
I hope the JW/ex-JW battle doesn’t result in actions that go off uncontrolled and shooting in every direction.
Putting oneself into this person’s shoes could be a great idea too …
JB, I’ve been in this person’s shoes. I run a group that supports parents of children with a certain complex medical condition. On average a parent on the group loses their child every month or two. My own 4 year old twins are severely disabled and have been close to death with diverging medical opinion on a number of occasions and its unlikely that they will survive to adulthood.
Situations like this are very complex and medical professionals have to use every bit of their training and experience to work out what is going on and plan the necessary treatments. Like you say it’s not unusual for Drs to disagree on diagnosis’s and treatment plans, that’s why there’s a system for getting second opinions. This family didn’t follow that. They decided that they knew better than the highly trained and experienced medical team and just took him out instead. Recovering from a brain stem injury involves a lot more than treating the cancer and keeping him fed. Early intervention on this is the key component to facilitate future recovery.
If I believe the scenario I see on his video, he couldn’t have dealt with the situation worse.
Add to Excelsior’s comment. What makes it so difficult to understand their latest “new light” on blood is that they can decide that if you split up the blood into different “fractions” it is okay to have it and you aren’t going against the Bible’s command to “abstain” from blood. They are splitting hairs to make it so that they don’t look like killers with their blood doctrine but what about all those who died in the meantime till they came up with their “new light?” When they came up with disfellowshipping for taking blood, it was only to get attention just as Cedars said. Look up the history of the doctrine if you don’t believe it. Anybody who has the courage to look into the history will be angry when they come to the realization that they lost their loved one to men who are only out to sell magazines to build up their huge empire of real estate. The Governing Body cares nothing about the rank and file and lord it over them. They only care about saving face. That is the only reason that they came up with taking fractions don’t supposedly violate Bible principles. What about all the blood that was donated to make those fractions? Why would it be okay to take fractions and not to donate it? Think about it.
The Governing Body are lording it over their flocks just as Jesus said at Mathew 20:25 when the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked Jesus to put her sons on his right side when he got to heaven “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them and the great men wield authority over them. This is not the way among you; but whoever wants to become great among you must be your minister and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave.” The Governing Body have placed themselves at the right hand of God in their talks at the district assemblies this summer. They appointed themselves to the right hand of God to sit on thrones with Jesus and Jesus said that it wasn’t up to him to do that but it was only up to the father. They assume authority that does not belong to them to make such decisions and are blood guilty for doing it. Prove otherwise. I am all ears.
Well, “john” you have no idea what god can do either. Unless it’s making animals speak, or lighting a bush on fire, or parting water, or making wedding wine from water. Or any other fable from the ancient hebrew book of fables.
You can tell us what “idea’s” you fantasize that god has, but god has the power to fix this very child, and apparently doesn’t want to.
http://www.itv.com/news/story/2014-08-31/ashya-kings-parents-held-after-missing-boy-found-in-spain/
Watch the video of the mom whos son had proton beam therapy.
@Enzo
Anonymous has kindly answered you with a detailed comment. (Thank you Anonymous).
However if you note in my comment this statement was made by a “fully qualified medical professional” who is I believe still currently serving as an Elder and so has experience of the HLC from both sides.
There are several examples I could also add of exactly how the HLC operate; for instance, on one occasion the real police had to be called to remove a member of the committee from the hospital! Not a very good witness I am sure you will agree!