Every child needs a pediatrician. Because even if your child is perfectly healthy, routine checkups are vital. Plus you never know when a bug or infection might strike and having a great support system is crucial.
For us as Jehovah's Witnesses, finding a pediatrician we are very comfortable with is even more important. So over the next few days, I will be sharing with you our process for finding a pediatrician for Minion.
For us as Jehovah's Witnesses, finding a pediatrician we are very comfortable with is even more important. So over the next few days, I will be sharing with you our process for finding a pediatrician for Minion.
As some people may know about Jehovah's Witnesses, we take a stance to refuse whole blood transfusions and medical care involving the 4 primary blood components - red cells, white cells, platelets, and plasma. That being said, we want the best medical care possible and are open to accepting all kinds of transfusion alternatives.
As grown adults with freedom of speech for our own bodies, we have a hard enough time fighting for our medical rights and finding doctors who support and work with us to treat us without blood. We are so fortunate to have a slew of educational resources we provide to our physicians so they can become better acquainted with our policies and desires. But when it comes to our children, things get emotional.
I cannot even tell you the number of times I have heard people accuse Witnesses of letting their children die because of refusing blood transfusions completely disregarding the facts and research that show how many children end up worse from transfusion complications. And when it comes to children we are all very passionate about keeping them safe. For Witnesses, and my family particularly it's even more so.
We hope Minion never faces a medical situation where the blood issue arise. But it wold be ignorance and poor parenting and planning on our part not to factor in the chance that something bad might happen. Whether it's a disease like leukemia or an unexpected tragedy like an accident, the blood issue usually hits people out of no where, so being prepared is vital. This was made even more evident over the past month when a close relative's child was born with a severe heart complication and the blood issue became paramount.
We are so thankful that we now live in a time where doctors and hospitals take bloodless medicine seriously and view it as a viable option for all patients not just Jehovah's Witnesses. There are so many resources now at our disposal compared to decades ago when my own extended family faced a legal battle over the blood issue for their 16yo old son (for the record, he lived without a blood transfusion and is now a grandpa).
Because of this we wanted to find a pediatrician who was on the same page as us. One who would respect our beliefs and not challenge our parenting skills. One who is open to alternative treatments and will work with us in an emergency to find the best team to treat Minion with bloodless medicine. Since we live in an area that doesn't feature any bloodless hospitals (even though there are now over 150 and fortunately 2 in our state that we could transfer to), it is so important to start building that team now.
As grown adults with freedom of speech for our own bodies, we have a hard enough time fighting for our medical rights and finding doctors who support and work with us to treat us without blood. We are so fortunate to have a slew of educational resources we provide to our physicians so they can become better acquainted with our policies and desires. But when it comes to our children, things get emotional.
I cannot even tell you the number of times I have heard people accuse Witnesses of letting their children die because of refusing blood transfusions completely disregarding the facts and research that show how many children end up worse from transfusion complications. And when it comes to children we are all very passionate about keeping them safe. For Witnesses, and my family particularly it's even more so.
We hope Minion never faces a medical situation where the blood issue arise. But it wold be ignorance and poor parenting and planning on our part not to factor in the chance that something bad might happen. Whether it's a disease like leukemia or an unexpected tragedy like an accident, the blood issue usually hits people out of no where, so being prepared is vital. This was made even more evident over the past month when a close relative's child was born with a severe heart complication and the blood issue became paramount.
We are so thankful that we now live in a time where doctors and hospitals take bloodless medicine seriously and view it as a viable option for all patients not just Jehovah's Witnesses. There are so many resources now at our disposal compared to decades ago when my own extended family faced a legal battle over the blood issue for their 16yo old son (for the record, he lived without a blood transfusion and is now a grandpa).
Because of this we wanted to find a pediatrician who was on the same page as us. One who would respect our beliefs and not challenge our parenting skills. One who is open to alternative treatments and will work with us in an emergency to find the best team to treat Minion with bloodless medicine. Since we live in an area that doesn't feature any bloodless hospitals (even though there are now over 150 and fortunately 2 in our state that we could transfer to), it is so important to start building that team now.
On Wednesday, I will share the details of how I started our search.
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