Jehovah's Witness mother of 9 kids dies from refusing blood

[Coldwinterskies]

I was surprised with how blunt this African newspaper articlewas about how the Jehovah's Witness religion caused this unfortunate woman to lose her life. How sad that 9 children will grow up without a mother because of this horrible cult.

When it became critical that Rebecca Dankwa could lose her life if she continued to ignorantly stick to her guns, she ultimately gave in for the blood transfusion to be done on her. It was nonetheless, too late, according to Mr. Annan, because she had already lost too much blood.

Information available to The Chronicle indicates that a few years ago, Rebecca allowed medical doctors to conduct a blood transfusion on her at the same hospital during child birth, and was ex-communicated from her Church for going contrary to its beliefs.

It took the leaders of the community, and the chiefs from her hometown, to intervene for her to be reinstated into the Church. It is, perhaps, for this reason that she might have rejected advice from the medical doctors to allow the process to be conducted on her once again to save her life, Mr. Annan explained.

Many people have speculated that the main reason that the JWs still have a ban on blood transfusions is because so many people have died from refusing blood that the Watchtower organization would be sued into oblivion if they ever admitted that their ban on blood makes no sense from a logical or scriptural perspective (more details on the blood doctrine and why it makes no sense here for those who haven't already seen it)

[Four is Enough]

While I think her decision is stupid and short-sighted, I have a LOT more trouble with someone refusing such a life-saving action on behalf of a child.

[TXGirlInAMaterialWorld]

This story is incredibly sad. Those nine kids will be brainwashed to believe their mother died for Jesus. :cry: :cry:

[Jana814]

What a sad story!! 9 kids r now without a mother.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I think it is selfish for a parent to reject life saving medical treatment in a situation where their life could easily be saved.

[DGayle]

One of my best friends is an ex-jovie, and she said the reason the ban is still in place is because of what Cold said about getting sued if they changed their stance. They've changed stances before, but this is the 1 that would be admitting being wrong in a way people died.

[EmiGirl]

All I can say is, "what a selfish bitch".

[public-school-teecher]

How sad :( I feel for her children.

[Coldwinterskies]

While I think her decision is stupid and short-sighted, I have a LOT more trouble with someone refusing such a life-saving action on behalf of a child.

I agree that it is far worse when parents let their child die - especially when statistics show that about 2 of every 3 kids who are born into the JW religion leave the religion eventually, so the poor kids are dying for something that many of them probably would not grow up to believe in anyway.

Still, though, I think it is sad that this woman was probably feeling a lot of pressure to refuse the blood transfusion because they had punished her with social ostracism (the article calls it "excommunication", but JWs call it "disfellowshipping") after the last time.

The woman probably wasn't even fully educated about the issue. Like many other fundamentalist religions, the JWs are experiencing much more growth in third world countries than they are in first world countries where people can debunk the religion online. I think it is appallingly predatory when you see first world people spreading their nonsense to innocent people in the third world.

[Fascinated]

With apologies to our Christian/religious members. Religion is a con. And it is so fucked up. People blindly following some ancient text or some doctrine or some preacher or one's own parents' screwed up beliefs - choose your poison. Anything that takes rational thinking and decision-making out of an individual's hands is just abhorrent to me. Nine children without a mother. For what? For nothing.

[DGayle]

With apologies to our Christian/religious members. Religion is a con. And it is so fucked up. People blindly following some ancient text or some doctrine or some preacher or one's own parents' screwed up beliefs - choose your poison. Anything that takes rational thinking and decision-making out of an individual's hands is just abhorrent to me. Nine children without a mother. For what? For nothing.

It's also a scam. Look at how many all but mandate, if not mandate, giving them 10% of everything you have, or more, and sometimes even leaving them everything when you die.

[ADoyle90815]

It's also a scam. Look at how many all but mandate, if not mandate, giving them 10% of everything you have, or more, and sometimes even leaving them everything when you die.

I agree, some churches even require people to give them 10% of everything, even if you're struggling financially. In some cases, they even demand those who have given over the decades to continue to give on their Social Security or other retirement, even though they'd already given 10% of what was put in to those things. Often, they have more than the 10%, as in the LDS cult, there's such things as fast offerings and paying for missions. No offense to anyone who is Mormon here, but my opinion is that it's a cult.

[Jana814]

I think it is selfish for a parent to reject life saving medical treatment in a situation where their life could easily be saved.

Agree!!

[Coldwinterskies]

Often, they have more than the 10%, as in the LDS cult, there's such things as fast offerings and paying for missions. No offense to anyone who is Mormon here, but my opinion is that it's a cult.

Yes, I agree that the Mormons truly are a cult as well. The structures of the two religions (JWs and LDS church) are actually quite similar if you look into them closely. Ex-JWs and ex-Mormons often consider themselves to be allies because they have so much in common.

I have heard from ex-Mormons that the way that the poor Mormon kids who go on Mission trips are treated is pretty shady. For example, controlling the family's ability to communicate with the missionary even if the missionary is sick/injured is pretty messed up to me.

[DaisyD]

With apologies to our Christian/religious members. Religion is a con. And it is so fucked up. People blindly following some ancient text or some doctrine or some preacher or one's own parents' screwed up beliefs - choose your poison. Anything that takes rational thinking and decision-making out of an individual's hands is just abhorrent to me. Nine children without a mother. For what? For nothing.

I get what you're saying here. I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that not all people of faith take rational thinking out of the equation. I have no problem reconciling science and the bible. One of the great (and sometimes unfortunate) things about it is that our understanding of what it says changes (at least for some of us) as our understanding of the world changes. Of course this is coming from the daughter of an agnostic whose father was a rabid atheist because his mother died for Christian Science. My grandfather never forgave religion for his mother's death. It's likely those 9 kids won't either.

[smittykins]

So I wonder if her story will eventually end up on the cover of the Watchtower or Awake! with the caption "She Put Jehovah First"? :roll:

[DaffyDill]

When he was growing up, my hubby had a friend called P. P lived with his disabled mother in a tiny flat in Sydney and had a paper round delivering newspapers which he shared with my hubby (they were about 14 and combined both their rounds to make one large one). P's mother was a JW and although she lived on a disability pension, the JWs took 10% of it, AND took 10% of Ps small earnings from his paper round as well. Just disgusting.

We just had a court case in Australia where the parents of a 7 year old boy, who needed a liver transplant, were denying him treatment based upon their beliefs. The Supreme Court of Australia ruled against the parents, so that the child could have the blood transfusion and any additional blood products needed during his recovery from the transplant.

“It seems to me appropriate to conclude that the sanctity of J’s life, in the end, is a more powerful reason for me to make the orders than is respect for the dignity of beliefs so sincerely held by his parents and him,’’ Justice Douglas said.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/quee ... 7414622305

[tankgirl]

When he was growing up, my hubby had a friend called P. P lived with his disabled mother in a tiny flat in Sydney and had a paper round delivering newspapers which he shared with my hubby (they were about 14 and combined both their rounds to make one large one). P's mother was a JW and although she lived on a disability pension, the JWs took 10% of it, AND took 10% of Ps small earnings from his paper round as well. Just disgusting.

We just had a court case in Australia where the parents of a 7 year old boy, who needed a liver transplant, were denying him treatment based upon their beliefs. The Supreme Court of Australia ruled against the parents, so that the child could have the blood transfusion and any additional blood products needed during his recovery from the transplant.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/quee ... 7414622305

The crazy thing is from what I keep hearing, is the parents tend to want the injunctions in many cases. Basically, this way they don't get disfellowshipped, and can claim, "Well we tried, but they made us". Some JW's don't seem as hardcore about blood as they used to, but still need to loopholes, of others, "forcing it on them", to get them off the hook.

I am having a very hard time with JW's right now. I had a friend who was raised in a very fundi church, gone home church, with some freaky rules, I wish I could share, but after years of avoiding religion, a acquaintance of a low in her life and converted her. She is no longer the happy friend I knew, she becomes more aloof, rude and less herself all the time :(

[Jana814]

So I wonder if her story will eventually end up on the cover of the Watchtower or Awake! with the caption "She Put Jehovah First"? :roll:

Probably!!

[Coldwinterskies]

We just had a court case in Australia where the parents of a 7 year old boy, who needed a liver transplant, were denying him treatment based upon their beliefs. The Supreme Court of Australia ruled against the parents, so that the child could have the blood transfusion and any additional blood products needed during his recovery from the transplant.

Thank goodness that the court is allowing that poor kid to have a fighting chance at life. So many problems in the world are because people put extreme religious beliefs over the value of another human being's life (as we see so often in the Middle East now).

The crazy thing is from what I keep hearing, is the parents tend to want the injunctions in many cases. Basically, this way they don't get disfellowshipped, and can claim, "Well we tried, but they made us". Some JW's don't seem as hardcore about blood as they used to, but still need to loopholes, of others, "forcing it on them", to get them off the hook.

Yes, the main way that the JWs control their followers is through the threat of social ostracism (the disfellowshipping crap). Many people do not have the courage to stand up for their beliefs at the cost of losing their entire friends and family (which is why the JW organization actively discourages their members from having friends outside of the religion - it's easier to hurt people with disfellowshipping if they don't have strong social connections out of the religion).

I am having a very hard time with JW's right now. I had a friend who was raised in a very fundi church, gone home church, with some freaky rules, I wish I could share, but after years of avoiding religion, a acquaintance of a low in her life and converted her. She is no longer the happy friend I knew, she becomes more aloof, rude and less herself all the time :(

The JWs got to her? Sorry to hear that. I think that's how they suck in a lot of people : they prey on people who are going through a hard time in life, especially grieving people or lonely people. Unfortunately, my family was also sucked into the JWs that way. I am reluctant to give specifics so it is not identifiable, but basically, someone in the family suffered a horrible tragedy, and a JW managed to convert her during that grief and loneliness.

If you haven't already seen it, this site has some advice about how to try to coax people out of the JWs:

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/helpi ... -leave.php

This idea might also be worth trying:

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/compari ... -loved-one

It can be hard to break through the mind control, but a lot of people do end up leaving sooner or later, so there is hope.

[Coldwinterskies]

So I wonder if her story will eventually end up on the cover of the Watchtower or Awake! with the caption "She Put Jehovah First"? :roll:

Either that or they will blame her death on the fact that she finally caved at the end and tried to get the blood transfusion. A lot of JWs try to hype up how dangerous blood transfusions are to make it seem like their refusal of blood isn't as crazy as it is.

[DaisyD]

On a side note, I love trolling the Mormon missionaries when they come by, by telling them the joke about St. Peter giving a tour of the different heavens and the JW'S thinking they're the only ones there.

[RabbitKM]

On a side note, I love trolling the Mormon missionaries when they come by, by telling them the joke about St. Peter giving a tour of the different heavens and the JW'S thinking they're the only ones there.

LOL what's that joke now?

[VelociRapture]

All I can say is, "what a selfish bitch".

I agree with your general idea, but I can't agree with calling this woman a bitch - selfish maybe, though she did want to have a transfusion in the end. If anyone should be called names in this situation, it should be the people leading the cult and promoting inaccurate medical information - had they not promoted their stance against transfusions these young children would still have their mother.

[DaisyD]

LOL what's that joke now?

A man dies and goes to heaven. When he gets there St. Peter gives him a tour. He says "Over here you have your Catholic heaven, your Unitarian heaven, Jewish heaven,...". The man then says "What's that bubble over there?" St. Peter says "Oh, that's the Jehovah's Witness heaven. They think they're the only ones here."