Due to their religious beliefs, Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse any type of blood transfusion during medical treatment, including surgery.
Overview
The group’s avoidance of blood transfusion includes whole blood units as well as its four major components: red and white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Cardiothoracic surgeons with M Health Fairview have worked with leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to create guidelines and advance the practice of blood conservation cardiac surgery.
Our approach
The avoidance of blood products by Jehovah’s Witnesses has led to advances in the effectiveness of conservative transfusion practices. Formalized programs were developed as early as the late 1980's to meet the needs of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which today have been more broadly applied to patients’ blood management. In fact, many of the advances in patient blood management stem from “bloodless” cardiac surgery.
For a number of reasons, cardiac surgery has a greater potential for bleeding than other surgical procedures. Because of this, our heart care team has developed several strategies to avoid blood loss and reduce transfusions for all patients before, during and after cardiac surgery.
If you require blood conservation cardiac surgery, please speak to your providers before surgery. Our heart care team will work with you to develop treatment that meets your needs.
