EXTRACTS FROM OPINION, DATED DECEMBER 7, 2023:
“I, … hereby attest to my expertise in the surgical cardiac management of Jehovah’s Witness patients.
In a 2016 publication, (J. Cardiothorac Surg. 2016 Apr 14;11 (1):67) titled “Outcomes from Cardiac surgery in Jehovah’s Witness patients: experience over twenty-one years,” we reported that, with rigorous preoperative hematological management, the precocious outcomes after major cardiac surgery in these patients were roughly comparable to those in the general population. This patient cohort was the subject of a new publication in 2019 (BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2019 Mar 29;19 (1):73) titled “Long-term survival and quality of life in Jehovah’s Witnesses after cardiac surgery: a case control study”. In this latest publication, a case-control study was carried out to assess the long-term quality of life of these patients, who always received rigorous preparatory care. The conclusions of these internationally recognized studies do not, of course, demonstrate the uselessness of blood transfusions, but they do show that, with rigorous preparation of all patients, whatever their philosophical convictions, recourse to them becomes marginal.” (Original in French.)