Caitlin Raymond/LinkedIn
Mar 27, 2026, 17:09
Caitlin Raymond: Jehovah’s Witnesses May Now Accept Autologous Blood
Caitlin Raymond, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Transfusion Medicine at University of Wisconsin-Madison, shared on LinkedIn:
”On March 20th, the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses issued new guidance: members may now accept autologous blood.
Preoperative autologous deposit – long explicitly forbidden – has moved into the personal conscience category.
This is significant. But if you work in transfusion medicine, the headlines don’t quite tell the whole story.
A few things worth knowing:
- The conscience zone was already wide before this update. Cell salvage, hemodilution, cardiopulmonary bypass, dialysis – individual decisions for years. The zone just got wider.
- Actual clinical practice has always been variable. I’ve cared for Jehovah’s Witness patients who would accept platelets (despite the contamination with allogeneic RBCs), and some who would even accept directed donations from congregation members. Jehovah’s Witness patients are whole, complex people, not policy documents.
- Autonomy without access isn’t really autonomy. PAD requires infrastructure that doesn’t exist uniformly across the 200+ countries where Jehovah’s Witnesses live and receive surgical care.
- ‘It’s now allowed’ doesn’t mean patients will feel free to accept it. Conscience operates inside a community. The conversation at the bedside still requires care, privacy, and time.
The guidance changed. The complexity didn’t.”
Stay updated with Hemostasis Today.
-
Sep 25, 2026, 12:43Thomas Dayspring: Reshaping the Biology of Atherosclerotic Plaques with New Therapies
-
Sep 25, 2026, 12:14Garima Sharma: Community Clinical Linkages for Better Postpartum Cardiovascular Care
-
Sep 25, 2026, 10:49Shefina S: From Presenting to Hosting at TRANSCON 2026
-
Sep 25, 2026, 10:37Michelle Leona Cecil: Hemophilia Advocacy and the Power of Community
-
Sep 25, 2026, 10:13Michael Baria: Platelet Concentration and PRP Outcomes in Partial Rotator Cuff Tears
-
Sep 25, 2026, 09:49Haley Coleman: Volunteering to Support Hemophilia Awareness
-
Sep 25, 2026, 08:55Hitarth Mehta: BHMS Students Gain Practical Exposure to Haemophilia Diagnosis
-
Sep 25, 2026, 07:25Varun Capoor: How Therapeutic Apheresis and Transfusion Medicine Can Complement Clinical Management in SCD
-
Sep 25, 2026, 07:14Manshi Kesharwani: SAK-GQDs Modulate Thrombus Burden and Endothelial Function in Deep Vein Thrombosis