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Blood doctrine · Claim record

In an official JW Broadcasting video first published on 19 August 2019, Gary and Beth Septer recount that their son Jerod was diagnosed with lymphoma in mid-1991 aged 11, that neither they nor Jerod would accept a blood transfusion, and that he died at home in June 1992. The video does not state whether a transfusion was medically recommended or what role, if any, refusal played in his death.

Claim ID claim-blood-2019-septer-video-accountConcerns 19 August 2019Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 19 August 2019 Verified

In an official JW Broadcasting video first published on 19 August 2019, Gary and Beth Septer recount that their son Jerod was diagnosed with lymphoma in mid-1991 aged 11, that neither they nor Jerod would accept a blood transfusion, and that he died at home in June 1992. The video does not state whether a transfusion was medically recommended or what role, if any, refusal played in his death. JW Broadcasting (JW.org video), 19 August 2019

The organisation’s position or later explanation: The video presents the family’s experience as an example of endurance and of answered prayer, and reports that Child Protective Services investigated and then withdrew.

Show the evidence (1 source)
Primary JW publication Verified

JW Broadcasting (JW.org video), “Gary and Beth Septer: “Jehovah Is Close to the Brokenhearted””

19 August 2019 · Duration 6 min 15 s; category ‘Endurance’ (VODIntExpEndurance); media key pub-jwb_E_201908_4_VIDEO · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania

“Jerod was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer in the middle of 1991. We started trying to figure out how we could get him the treatment that he needed, of course, but in no way would we accept a blood transfusion, and neither would Jerod.”

Official captions, 0:21–0:36. The captions record that Child Protective Services investigated the family for negligence and later ‘backed completely away from that’ (0:36–0:53); ‘He died in June of 1992. He was at home.’ (2:26–2:35); and a closing narration that the parents ‘asked for wisdom when seeking medical treatment for Jerod’ (5:31–5:35). The video does not state whether a transfusion was recommended by his doctors or what role, if any, refusal played in his death.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Title, first-published date (19 August 2019), duration and category taken from the JW.org media API record for this item; the official English captions file (WebVTT) was opened and read in full on 19 September 2026, and the quoted lines and timestamps are taken from it. No copy of the video was downloaded or stored.

Notes. The video page on JW.org requires JavaScript; the link opens the official player. JW.org does not offer an embed code, so the site presents a preview card rather than an embedded player.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-jwb-2019-08-septer-video

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-blood-2019-septer-video-account/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.