Awake!, “Jehovah's Witnesses—The Surgical/Ethical Challenge”
“Techniques for intraoperative collection or hemodilution that involve blood storage are objectionable to them.”
Witnesses refuse 'whole blood, packed RBCs, WBCs, or platelets'; 'many Witnesses permit the use of dialysis and heart-lung equipment (non-blood-prime) as well as intraoperative salvage where the extracorporeal circulation is uninterrupted'; albumin, immune globulins and haemophiliac preparations: 'each Witness must decide individually if he can accept these.' Par. 8 (p. 25) states that Witnesses view the biblical prohibitions 'as ruling out transfusion of whole blood, packed RBCs, and plasma, as well as WBC and platelet administration' — the earliest verified naming of all four primary components.
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Provenance and verification note for Awake!, Jehovah's Witnesses—The Surgical/Ethical Challenge
Confidence note. Opened on WOL. The brief's 'Watchtower 15 Jun 1982 pp. 25-31' is a mis-citation: the 15 Jun 1982 Watchtower articles at those pages do not contain this material.
Corroborated by. src-hb-1990-surgical-ethical-challenge
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-g-1982-0622-surgical-ethical-challenge