My nephew who is 7, is having a tonsillectomy in Trail, BC Canada. As Jehovah's Witnesses, we, which includes his parents, refuse blood transfusions. The doctor said that if he lost blood, that the only way to replace oxygen lost through the blood loss is by a blood transfusion. He said stored blood carries the necessary oxygen and he would get a court order if blood was needed. I thought stored blood no longer has oxygen. If anyone has info on this it would be appreciated.
Thanks
Wendi Andriashek

WendiK:
As many more experienced medical personnel who contribute to these forums will probably tell you more capably than I, stored blood does not contain oxygen. However, it retains the capability, although this is diminished after 72 hours, to carry oxygen once it is exposed to oxygen from the process of breathing (ventilation). Blood has to be in someone's body to carry oxygen to the body tissues. However, the body can tolerate quite a bit of blood loss before tissue oxygenation is dangerously diminished. Doctors do not like to have pediatric patients in that situation because they fear legal liability if the patient does bleed. However, there are recombinant clotting factors that have been used in pediatric surgical applications to successfully staunch excessive bleeding so that blood transfusion does not need to be considered. Anyone on the forum have a specific study they can reference? I have some somewhere but don't have them right at hand. The best way to prevent blood loss is meticulous surgery and excellent post-op nursing care. Also, have you contacted your MLC to see what resources they have?

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Jan Grossberg, RN, BSN
Editorial Team

Does the hospital have an argon beam coagulator? This surgical instrument seals all the tiny blood vessels at the tonsil bed immediately after the surgeon has cut. In this way blood loss can be reduced by 50% or more. The drug desmospressin is also very good at controlling bleeding, and the recombinant clotting factor NovoSeven is amazing (though expensive).

Very rarely does bleeding during or immediately after a tonsillectomy cause a major problem. The biggest concern the doctors have with tonsillectomy is that in a very small number of cases, about one week to ten days after the operation, the scab will come away and the wound will bleed and won't stop. They are concerned that the parents may delay coming back to the hospital to have the bleeding stopped surgically. If the parents can reassure the doctor that at the first sign of bleeding the child will be brought straight back to the hospital, that is sometimes enough to change their mind about doing the tonsillectomy.

If the doctor is still unhappy, the parents need to ask if he or she can locate another surgeon at the hospital, or even at another facility, who will operate without blood.

WendiK, Please contact a member of the Hospital Liaison Committee for Jehovah's Witnesses. Your elders will have a list. They know a number of doctors that will cooperate with our stand on refusing blood.

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Jim Laws

Thank you all for the information. We do have the HLC working with us but being in a rural area it is very difficult to find doctors that are willing to listen. They only want the opinions of a professional, even though we know more than them about the issues surrounding blood transfusions. Thanks again for the info