---
title: "Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions"
chunk: 1/7
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses_and_blood_transfusions"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:31:43.407186+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible prohibits Christians from accepting blood transfusions. Their literature states that, "abstaining from ... blood" means not accepting blood transfusions and not donating or storing their own blood for transfusion." This interpretation of scripture is unusual and is one of the doctrines for which Jehovah's Witnesses are best known.
Jehovah's Witnesses' literature teaches that their refusal of transfusions of whole blood or its four primary components—red cells, white cells, platelets, and plasma—is a non-negotiable religious stand and that those who respect life as a gift from God do not try to sustain life by taking in blood, even in an emergency. Witnesses are taught that the use of fractions such as albumin, immunoglobulins, and hemophiliac preparations are not absolutely prohibited and are instead a matter of personal choice.
The doctrine was introduced in 1945 and has undergone some changes since then. Members of the group who voluntarily accept a transfusion and are not deemed repentant are regarded as having disassociated themselves from the group by abandoning its doctrines and are subsequently shunned by members of the organization. Although the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses accept the doctrine, a minority do not.
The Watch Tower Society has established Hospital Information Services to provide education and facilitate bloodless surgery. This service also maintains Hospital Liaison Committees.

== Doctrine ==
On the basis of various biblical texts, including Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:10, and Acts 15:28–15:29, Jehovah's Witnesses believe:

Blood represents life and is sacred to God. After it has been removed from a creature, the only use of blood that God has authorized is for the atonement of sins. When a Christian abstains from blood, they are in effect expressing faith that only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can truly redeem them and save their life.
Blood must not be eaten or transfused, even in the case of a medical emergency.
Blood leaving the body of a human or animal must be disposed of.
Certain medical procedures involving blood fractions or that use a patient's own blood during the course of a medical procedure, such as hemodilution or cell salvage, are a matter of personal choice, according to what a person's conscience permits.
A baptized Witness who unrepentantly accepts a blood transfusion is deemed to have disassociated himself from the group by abandoning its doctrines and is subsequently subject to organized shunning by other members.
Certain medical procedures involving blood are specifically prohibited by Jehovah's Witnesses' blood doctrine. This includes the use of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and blood plasma. Other fractions derived from blood are not prohibited. Watch Tower publications state that some products derived from one of the four primary components may be so similar to the function of the whole component and carry on such a life-sustaining role in the body that "most Christians would find them objectionable". For procedures where there is no specific doctrinal prohibition, individuals are to obtain details from medical personnel and then make a personal decision.

=== Prohibited procedures ===
The following medical procedures are prohibited:

Transfusion of allogeneic whole blood, or of its constituents of red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma.

=== Permitted procedures and products ===

The following procedures and products are not prohibited and are left to the decision of individual members:

Blood donation strictly for the purpose of further fractionation of red cells, white cells, platelets, or plasma for either allogeneic or autologous transfusion.
Autologous transfusion of pre-operative self-donated blood.
Transfusions of autologous blood as part of a "current therapy".
Hemodilution, a modified technique in which equipment is arranged in a circuit that is constantly linked to the patient's circulatory system.
Intraoperative blood salvage (autologous) or cell-saver scavenging, a method of collecting blood that has spilled from the circulatory system, washing and re-infusing it.
Cardiopulmonary bypass, a method in which blood is diverted to an artificial heart-lung machine and directed back into the patient.
Dialysis, wherein blood circulates through a machine, is filtered and cleaned, then returned to the patient.
Epidural blood patch, consisting of a small amount of the patient's blood injected into the membrane surrounding the spinal cord.
Plasmapheresis, wherein blood is withdrawn and filtered, having the plasma removed and substituted, and returned to the patient.
Labeling or Tagging, blood is withdrawn, mixed with medicine, and then returned to the patient by transfusion.
Platelet Gel, blood is withdrawn and put into a solution rich in platelets and white blood cells.
Fractions from red blood cells:
Hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component of red blood cells.
Fractions from white blood cells:
Interferons
Interleukins
Fractions from platelets:
Platelet factor 4
Fractions from blood plasma:
Albumin
Globulins
Cryoprecipitate
Cryosupernatant (cryo-poor plasma)
Clotting factors, including Factor VIII and Factor IX derived from large quantities of stored blood
Wound healing factor
Erythropoietin (EPO).
PolyHeme, a blood substitute solution of chemically modified human hemoglobin.
Hemopure, a blood substitute solution of chemically stabilized bovine hemoglobin derived from cow's blood.

== Bloodless surgery ==