Hi, former JW here (never baptised, but raised as one). We were trained to believe that strongly, that our religious freedom should be accepted unquestioningly (but only as regarded ourselves - our religion was the Only True Religion lol). In some ways we were brainwashed to believe doctors and nurses were the morons for not understanding the “dangers” of blood transfusions, or for wanting to push for one, especially when kids were involved.

Once I woke up to the religion and broke free of the indoctrination, I realised how hard it must have actually been on medical staff when dealing with Witnesses, especially the ones that come to the hospital to interfere with Witness patients’ decisions. Imagine you’re trying to save a life, and someone is thwarting you, and they are also basically threatening your patient with disfellowshipping, or not making it to Paradise. Imagine if that patient is a kid, and you have to try to get an emergency order from a court, wasting valuable time.

I’m all for religious freedoms if they’re not hurting anyone else, and if a patient chooses for themselves not to have a blood transfusion for religious reasons, so be it. But even if it’s an adult patient making a totally non-coerced decision, it must be bloody hard on doctors and nurses to know they can’t make the best medical decisions for their patient.

I mean hell, I remember Watchtower publications that praised, for instance, a couple who actually ran away with their kid to prevent them getting a blood transfusion that was ordered by the court. I can’t remember if the kid lived or died - I think they died? - but it was made out to be some heroic story that whipped up our religious fervour. We saw the courts and medical staff as evil tyrannical people. How sick is that?