Jehovah’s Witness Emma Gough Died After Refusing Blood Transfusion
Filed under: News | By: Kerry
Posted on: November 5, 2007 | 42 Comments
Friends of Emma Gough where told last night how the devout Jehovah’s Witness cuddled her newborn twins then died just hours later after refusing a blood transfusion.
Emma who was just 22 whose life could have been saved after complications set in ticked a form before the birth insisting she should not be given blood.
It’s reported that Medics begged her husband Anthony and other members of Emma’s family to overrule her after she suffered severe blood loss and began slipping away.
But because Jehovah’s Witnesses are barred from having transfusions they refused insisting the young mum would not want to betray her principles.
Stunned friends last night described her grieving husband a fellow Witness who has been left to bring up the motherless twin boy and girl as distraught.
Peter Welsh who was the couple’s best man at their wedding said that “We can’t believe she died after childbirth in this day and age, with all the technology there is. What makes it even more sad is Emma had time to hold and start to bond with her twins before the complications set in.”
But the truth here is that the medics could have probley saved Emma but because of Emma’s faith they could not. I think that if someone could be saved especially in these circumstances then her family should have done what ever it took whether that is against their faith just to save her so she could have been with her babies.
What do you think?
Emma died in the early hours of October 25, a week last Thursday.
Both sides of the family including Anthony’s parents Sham and Ian Gough closed ranks and remained tight-lipped.
A woman relative mixing baby feeds for the twins at Emma’s home insisted: “We have nothing to say.”
Best man Peter – also a Jehovah’s Witness – said: “Luckily Anthony is part of a big family.”
Part of the Jehovah faith says the Bible prohibits the “consumption, storage and transfusion of blood” and quotes the book of Acts and its said that some Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that to have a transfusion is the same as consuming or eating blood.
A spokesman for the local Kingdom Hall, where Emma and Anthony worshipped, said: “This is a terrible time for the whole family. They are all grieving terribly. The entire Witness community is distraught and including them in their prayers.”
A coroner’s office source confirmed: “We are investigating why she did not have a transfusion. An inquest will be held.”
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The Bible says nothing about blood transfusions. They didn’t exist when the Old Testament and Acts were written. The Bible passages in question (kosher law) have to do with diet.
This deadly doctrine by the Watchtower leadership is killing men,woman and babies.
It is absolutely disgusting that the family did not overrule her decision.
What a senseless waste. I cannot believe the statement from peter Welsh! I cannot believe that people would refuse life saving medical care on the grounds of religion when it would almost certainly have saved her life. Which she would have been able to spend with her husband and twins. How crazy!
She is just a poor confused person- her poor children having to live without their mother just because she was blindly following a miss guided belief.
If i was a Jehovah’s Witness i would still take the blood.
Obviously she didnt believe it was misguided if she was willing to die for that belief. The above comment is ignorant and heartless. Yes, my heart goes out to those babies and the husband, but even as someone who is not a jahova’s witness, i resent the comments above. If that is what she believes in, how dare you all condemn her for it.
Its Said To State that alot of you do not understand that there are many diseases in blood and that to go ahead and die now would be better than to wait dying a creapling death and suffering and possibly giving the disease to your love ones as well, We all know that it is better to rest in peace than to be living in a society like today . At least she knows she has the hope of resurrection like Jesus Christ Promised All Who Observe his Commandments.
This WatchTower Society requirement that Jehovah’s Witnesses must refuse to accept any blood transfusions dates back only to 1945. Misinterpreting the Old Testament prohibition against eating animal blood as a routine food item, the WatchTower Society began teaching in 1945 that receiving a blood transfusion was “eating human blood”. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that receiving an infusion of human blood into their body’s circulatory system is scientifically the exact same thing as eating or ingesting blood into their body’s digestive system.
“A patient in the hospital maybe fed through the mouth, through the nose, or through the veins. When sugar solutions are given intravenously it is called intravenous feeding. So the hospital’s own terminology recognizes as feeding the process of putting nutrition into one’s system via the veins. Hence the attendant administering the transfusion is feeding the patient through the veins, and the patient receiving it is eating through his veins.” — The WATCHTOWER magazine, July 1, 1951.
Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to acknowledge that when human blood is transfused into their body’s circulatory system that the transfused human blood remains to be human blood and continues to function as human blood. Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to acknowledge that if blood is eaten, then the ingested blood enters the body’s digestive system, where the blood would be treated by the body exactly the same as it would treat a hotdog, a potato chip, or any other food item. Ingested blood would be completely digested and broken down into proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and waste; which are then either assimilated or excreted by the body.
The WatchTower Society uses scriptures which speak about the blood of slaughtered animals to teach Jehovah’s Witnesses that blood is “sacred” because blood is the “symbol of life”. Then, the WatchTower Society turns around and requires Jehovah’s Witnesses to sacrifice their own “life” to maintain the alleged “sacredness” of a “symbol” of the very thing they are sacrificing — their life. Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to acknowledge that the WatchTower doctrine on blood moronically places a higher value on the SYMBOL than it does on the THING SYMBOLIZED.
In fact, the Old Testament scriptures permitted the eating of unbled animal meat, which the Bible treats exactly the same as eating animal blood itself. In isolated occasions, when humans needed to eat unbled meat in order to sustain their own human life, the Mosaic Law permitted such, but then required the eaters to fulfill the requirements of being “unclean” for a few days. Thus, the Bible recognized that the sustaining of human life was more “sacred” than maintaining the sacredness of animal blood. To do otherwise would be doing exactly what the moronic WatchTower Society does. It would make the SYMBOL more SACRED than the THING SYMBOLIZED.
In fact, the WatchTower Society is leading Jehovah’s Witnesses to disobey GOD and violate the Holy Scriptures in one of the most serious ways possible. Because humans were created in GOD’s image, GOD considers human life sacred. A Jehovah’s Witness who sacrifices their SACRED LIFE in order to maintain the sacredness of a SYMBOL of that SACRED LIFE varies little from those who profane life by committing suicide. Those Jehovah’s Witness Elders who teach and police this moronic doctrine vary little from common accessories to murder. The Bible is fairly clear in how GOD views murder, and how He deals with Murderers.
This moronic twisting of scripture would be laughable if not for the fact that it has lead to the pointless deaths of numerous Jehovah’s Witnesses in the past, and it will continue to lead to the pointless deaths of many more Jehovah’s Witnesses in the future.
SUMMARIES OF 300 JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES LAWSUITS & COURT CASES
The following website summarizes over 315 U.S. court cases and lawsuits affecting children of Jehovah’s Witness Parents, including 200+ cases where the JW Parents refused to consent to life-saving blood transfusions for their dying children:
DIVORCE, BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS, AND OTHER LEGAL ISSUES AFFECTING CHILDREN OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
http://jwdivorces.bravehost.com
Jehovah’s Witnesses elders will investigate and disfellowship any Jehovah Witness who takes a blood transfusion,to say the issue is a ‘personal conscience matter’ is subterfuge to keep the Watchtower out of lawsuits.
Many Jehovah’s Witnesses men,women and children die every year worldwide due to blood transfusion ban.Rank & file Jehovah’s Witness are indoctrinated to be scared to death of blood.
FYI
1) JW’s DO USE many parts aka ‘fractions’ aka components of blood,so if it’s ’sacred’ to God why the hypocritical contradiction flip-flop?
2) They USE blood collections that are donated by Red cross and others but don’t donate back,more hypocrisy.
3) The Watchtower promotes and praises bloodless elective surgeries,this is a great advancement indeed.BUT it’s no good to me if I am bleeding to death from a car crash and lose half my blood volume and need EMERGENCY blood transfusion.
Know this,the reason that JW refuse blood is because of their spin on the 3000 year old Biblical old testament,modern medicine will eventually make blood donations and transfusions a thing of the past.When this technology happens it won’t vindicate the Jehovah’s Witnesses and all the deaths that have occured so far.
The Watchtower’s rules against blood transfusions will eventually be abolished (very gradually to reduce wrongful death lawsuit liability) even now most of the blood ‘components’ are allowed.
In 20 years there will be artificial blood and the Red Cross will go on with other noble deeds.
None of these changes will absolve the Watchtower leaders or vindicate their twisted doctrines
Are there dangers from blood?There are over 500 aspirin deaths in USA yearly.
—
Danny Haszard born 1957 3rd generation Jehovah’s Witness
I am not religious, but I can’t see why someone should not be allowed to follow their principles (provided others are not harmed). Then again, her children will be heavily affected by her choice. Also, this could be seen as suicide. If someone had a terminal disease and asked a doctor to help him/her terminate their life in a decent way, the doctor wouldn’t do it, facing serious trouble with the law if they did help them. Why should someone young and perfectly healthy be able to refuse a life-saving blood transfusion and die, but someone who is guarranteed to die a slow and painful death should be refused a quick and painless death?
Katie, Jake, Danny, ‘I Jones’: yes, senseless waste, I would take the blood, for sure. But that’s what she believed in. Everyone has the right to believe anything they like, and live by it if it doesn’t affect others (mind you, it affects her babies). As for her family, they did the same with her, they followed their beliefs.
Hayley, if my grandmother had wheels, she would be a car. But she doesn’t have wheels and she’s not a car. And you’re not a Jehova’s Witness and I think you probably wouldn’t take the blood if you were.
Krysta, a sensible voice, at last
BJ, OK, we are free to believe in whatever we want and so are you. But don’t try to make us ’see the light’, thanks very much. Why should we keep living every day then and not just blow our heads off right now? Get a life!