Jehovah’s Witnesses ease blood transfusion rule, allows members to use owned stored blood

Jehovah’s Witnesses have made a significant change to their traditional view on blood transfusions, allowing members to utilize their own stored blood during medical treatments.

According to the new policy, members can donate their blood, have it preserved, and then reinfused, especially during scheduled surgeries. However, the organization continues to uphold a strict ban on receiving blood from external sources.

Gerrit Lösch, a leader within the group, emphasized that this decision underscores personal accountability, stating that “each Christian must determine for themselves how their blood will be used in medical and surgical care.”

While Jehovah’s Witnesses, recognized for their door-to-door outreach, assert that their fundamental belief remains unchanged—adhering to biblical injunctions to “abstain from blood”—the organization has approximately 144,000 members in the UK and around nine million worldwide. Nonetheless, some critics, including former members, think the change is insufficient.

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Mitch Melon expressed to the LA Times that the new policy still restricts critical life-saving options in emergency scenarios, particularly concerning severe blood loss or illnesses like cancer that might necessitate multiple transfusions. This topic has also been a point of contention in legal disputes.

In December, an Edinburgh court determined that physicians could perform a blood transfusion on a 14-year-old Jehovah’s Witness if her life were at stake, despite her religious objection. Judge Lady Tait asserted that the ruling was made in the child’s best interest while taking her beliefs i nto account.