Increasing number avoid transfusions
Las Vegas Review - Journal - Las Vegas, NV, USA

Dorothy Phillips is as anxious as anyone would be at the thought of surgery. It's just plain scary.

But as a Jehovah's Witness, which recognizes blood as sacred and has prohibitions on transfusions, Phillips carries around an additional worry: that if she needed emergency surgery, her body would require special attention.

After her vehicle hit a light pole in Southern Utah in late November, Phillips found herself in just that situation.

Though her scrapes and scratches were fixed with alcohol and bandages, her broken hip and foot required surgery.

After her accident, Phillips, 65, was taken to University Medical Center, the closest Level I Trauma Unit.

Despite UMC's expertise in treating trauma patients, Phillips requested a transfer to Valley Hospital Medical Center, where physicians practice techniques capable of conserving a patient's blood.

"I knew this was a bloodless center,'' Phillips said last month from her hospital bed, where a sign posted above her bed read "No Blood."

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