It is true that not all doctors and nurses respect patients' wishes, especially re blood transfusion. And even if a doctor respects one's wishes at one time, he might not do so at another time. And it boils down to one thing - the fear of a lawsuit if something happens to the patient because blood transfusion was not given. As a doctor who has travelled around the Philippines to lecture on alternatives to blood transfusion, I have met different answers and attitudes. One of my co- residents in training even told me, " Are there alternatives? Call the priest!" Another told me , " It's tantamount to suicide". However, I told this doctor that smokers are also committing suicide, only "killing me softly".
Anyway, when I go around to give lectures, I always present to my audience the list of my patients who have undergone surgery and anesthesia and survived with very low hemoglobin levels. And some of these patients are doctors too who refused transfusions. And they are not Jehovah's Witnesses! Little by little, these doctors have come to realize that blood is not all they can give for survival. I can see that some attitutes are changing, but it takes courage and persistence on my part to change attitudes about blood transfusion.

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Angelina A. Gapay, MD