Appendix 10. Collagen and cellulose sponges. Fibrin glue.

Annex 11. Ethical and legal problems of blood transfusion.

Introduction.

At the forum of Deacon Andrei Kuraev1, you often have to conduct a dialogue with representatives of other faiths. I have had long conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses. I wanted concrete answers to simple questions about their teachings on blood transfusions. These questions began to arise after I found reports on the Internet from various news agencies about events in the lives of Jehovah's Witnesses. As a rule, my interlocutors, without giving any explanation regarding these reports, advised me to turn to one or another of the materials of the Watch Tower Society (OSB)2, which set forth the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses on blood and their views on blood transfusion as a method used in treatment. Reading these publications, I never ceased to be amazed at their uniformity. The same techniques and clichés are repeated from article to article, the works are similar like twin brothers. The level of the articles offered by the OSB to its followers, the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses are guided by these articles in making decisions concerning their lives and the lives of their children, prompted the writing of this work.

The work begins with the chapter "Formal Comments on OSB Publications". It contains some of the comments that arise in the process of reading the brochure "How Can Blood Save Your Life?" and the journal "Bloodless Medicine and Surgery"3. These publications can be found on the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses.4 They were most often recommended to be read by Jehovah's Witnesses when they were asked various questions related to blood transfusions. As I read these and other OSB publications, I came to believe that How Can Blood Save Your Life? is OSB's most detailed work on the subject of blood transfusions. Rich argumentation, frequent and extensive citations of medical sources and expert opinions, and a large number of quotations from the Bible claim to be a serious theological and scientific work. These publications caused me bewilderment and a lot of questions. In my opinion, the rest of the Society's work on blood transfusion has all the shortcomings of How Can Blood Save Your Life? Therefore, I do most of the analysis of the brochure and only occasionally refer to the journal "Bloodless Medicine and Surgery" or other electronic or printed publications of the OSB. The genre of this chapter can be defined as a detailed review. A large amount of material on the topic of analysis of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses can be found, for example, on the website "Polemics with Jehovah's Witnesses"6, on the website of the Center of the Holy Martyr Irenaeus of Lyons7, on the website "Christian Revival"8, extensive material can be found in books [1-6] and in many other sources. Here are pictures of the RSS publications from their official website. The first is the first picture with which the brochure begins, the second is a drawing from a magazine.

Since I am not a medical professional, the chapter "Some Medical Reasons Why It Is Impossible to Refuse the Use of Transfusions of Blood or Its Components" required the help of medical professionals. I asked the doctor, Ph.D. O.V. Strunin, anesthesiologist-resuscitator of the Department of Surgery of the VPS of the E.N. Meshalkin Research Institute of Circulatory Pathology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Novosibirsk, to comment on and supplement all the collected and developed material. I offer him my sincere gratitude. Without his professional advice, the medical part of the work would not look so complete and informatively useful for the reader interested in this topic. The presented material is intended to confirm basically one thesis - in modern medicine there are still conditions of patients, in which it is possible to help only with the help of blood transfusion.