Blood, Medicine and Jehovah's Witnesses

HOSPITAL INFORMATION SERVICES AND HOSPITAL LIAISON COMMITTEES

To assist those who need help when faced with a blood transfusion problem, the Society has set up Hospital information Services at Brooklyn. It has also established 100 Hospital Liaison Committees in ma- major U.S. cities. These committees are made up of more than 600 elders specially trained for this work. In Britain the Society maintains a Hospital Information Desk at Bethel, and twenty Hospital Liaison Committees have recently been appointed in major cities and more are to follow. Hospital Information Services is able to do research in more than 3,600 medical journals world-wide to locate information on the availability and effectiveness of many forms of bloodless surgery and treatment. It then supplies Hospital Liaison Committees, health care centres, and some doctors with information on these medical advances. (Sometimes Hospital Information Services has sent out medical articles that show what can be done without blood and successfully defused an ongoing confrontation at a hospital.) It keeps the committees posted on favourable court decisions that will assist judges in looking at our cases with added insight.

It also maintains records on over 7,000 co-operative physicians so that the committees have up- to- date files to use when blood transfusion problems arise.

Hospital Information Services also supervises the training and work of the Hospital Liaison Committees. In the cities where they are located, Hospital Liaison Committees regularly make informative presentations to hospital staff to improve relations with them. They also poll these medical personnel to find any additional doctors who will treat us without using blood. These brothers stand ready to help you but there are crucial advance steps you must take to lay the groundwork for them to do that most effectively.