[Box on page 16]

Little children too? “Forty-eight pediatric open heart surgical procedures were performed with bloodless techniques regardless of surgical complexity.” The children were as small as 10.3 pounds (4.7 kg). “Because of consistent success in Jehovah’s Witnesses and the fact that blood transfusion carries a risk of serious complications, we are currently performing most of our pediatric cardiac operations without transfusion.”—“Circulation,” September 1984.

Finally, can intricate heart and vascular surgery without blood be performed on adults and children? Dr. Denton A. Cooley was a pioneer in doing just that. As you can see in the medical article reprinted in the Appendix, on pages 27-9, based on an earlier analysis, Dr. Cooley’s conclusion was “that the risk of surgery in patients of the Jehovah’s Witness group has not been substantially higher than for others.” Now, after performing 1,106 of these operations, he writes: “In every instance my agreement or contract with the patient is maintained,” that is, to use no blood.