HLC Death Squads Strike Again!

HLC (Hospital Liaison Committees) and JWorg directly responsible for the death of this poor sister. The “acceptable” by blood products were not even offered at the medical facility and was a direct result of the JW sister’s death due to refusing a life-saving blood transfusion. The response from JWorg was:

Church officials told the inquest that the church did not provide medical information to members as it was a religious organisation, not a medical organisation.

Any Jehovah’s Witness well knows that very specific medical information is given in the “Blood Card” all members carry as well as numerous booklets and Kingdom Ministry inserts that very specifically give medical instructions in the event of a medical emergency. So this is a simple lie to cover for the religious murder that was instigated by JWorg and enforced by the HLC, who come to the hospitals to pressure members to die if they need blood. In this case, the nonblood instructions resulted in this woman’s death.

Specific medical instructions are given by a religion by the blood card every member carries.

This dear sister died trusting elders who basically signed her death warrant.

Coroner condemns Jehovah's Witness blood transfusion rules after follower's hospital death

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-26/jehovahs-witness-blood-transfusion-refusal-death-nsw-coroner/104983208

Heather Winchester, who died in 2019, with her grandson. ( Supplied: Elizabeth MacIntyre)

In short:

The NSW Deputy State Coroner has found a Jehovah's Witness bled to death in hospital after refusing blood in 2019.

He said instructions written by the organisation in America did not take into account when acceptable blood products were not available and "should not be used at all". 

What's next:

The coroner made 14 recommendations, including that surgical teams read a patient's clinical notes before operating.

A deputy state coroner has recommended Jehovah's Witnesses stop relying on the organisation's "misleading" blood-refusal guidance after a follower bled to death.

Heather Winchester, 75, died from complications after hysterectomy surgery at a NSW hospital in September 2019.

Mrs Winchester lost more than a litre of blood after the elective surgery at Maitland Hospital and was urgently transferred to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital.

The 75-year-old refused a blood transfusion on religious grounds. 

NSW Deputy State Coroner David O'Neil on Wednesday found she bled to death when her organs failed.

Mr O'Neil said a blood transfusion could have saved her life but Mrs Winchester rejected the procedure in her care plan.

"In order for an individual to become baptised (as a) Jehovah's Witness, they must not accept a transfusion of whole blood and the main components are to be refused as a violation of God's law," he said.

Work sheets condemned

Before her surgery, Mrs Winchester had also spoken to doctors about work sheets parishioners were given by the church outlining unacceptable blood products.

Mr O'Neil said blood substitutes deemed acceptable in the document were non-human donor haemoglobin and artificial haemoglobin, but this left Mrs Winchester's doctors in a bind. 

"There were no haemoglobin products (of that type) in Maitland Hospital or in the Hunter New England Local Health District or anywhere in New South Wales," he said.

"In my view, it was completely inappropriate the worksheets in this form were available for Mrs Winchester to complete in 2018 when no haemoglobin products were available to her (in 2019)."

Mr O'Neil said the worksheets were printed in America and "inappropriate for use in New South Wales".

"It is an example of problems arising from the church seeking to provide medical info to congregants in NSW ... within documents published in America.

"I am at a loss to understand why the church wants worksheets accessible at all. They should not be used at all for any purpose."

Church officials told the inquest that the church did not provide medical information to members as it was a religious organisation, not a medical organisation.

Mr O'Neil made 14 recommendations, including that the local health district put in place a requirement that the surgical team review pre-anaesthetic clinic notes before  surgery.