EXTRACTS FROM JOINT OPINION, DATED DECEMBER 9, 2023:
“We would like to shed light on how we manage patients when they don’t accept blood transfusions, at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and at many hospitals across the world. …
Over the past two decades, we have learned much about effective methods of treatment that result in excellent clinical outcomes, while avoiding transfusions. In fact, these methods of blood conservation are so beneficial they are being used even for patients who accept blood, to reduce avoidable transfusions, thus saving blood and money. …
Ten or twenty years ago, some clinicians were unsure about management techniques when patients declined transfusion. But now we have a host of blood conservation methods that result in either the same, or better outcomes, compared to patients who accept blood. …
When pediatric patients present, belonging to Jehovah’s Witness parents, special considerations apply, and we have published our management strategy with a very successful approach and excellent clinical outcomes …
With this approach, blood transfusions were avoided in almost all of the pediatric cases. There were no deaths over the 4-year period in our series of cases. The clinical outcomes were either the same or better for these children in our study compared to those who received standard care including allogeneic blood transfusion (someone else’s blood). …
In summary, we recognize through experience and from published findings, that patients can be successfully managed without transfusions when they decline them, and that both adult and pediatric patients have excellent outcomes when cared for properly. This field is no longer new, and the methods of blood conservation are being used and perfected across the world. At major medical conferences around the world, information is being shared through educational sessions to help clinicians manage these patients.” (Footnotes omitted; original in English.)