Bloodless Transplant: Balancing Religion and Medicine
Reported March 06, 2009
lillLOS ANGELES (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Most people will try anything to reverse a devastating diagnosis, but what happens when modern medicine clashes with strongly held religious beliefs? One doctor is looking for a solution to help those who would rather die than go against their faith.
Jehovah’s Witnesses John and Leina Lapez turn to their faith when life gets tough. John has multiple myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells. He needed blood transfusions and a stem cell transplant to survive. The problem — it goes against his religious beliefs.
“We don’t take blood in any way, shape or form,” John told Ivanhoe.
“I’ve had a lot of pressure the past year with, ‘What is the big deal? It’s his life,'” Leina said.
The couple turned to Michael Lill, M.D., a self-described atheist who helped develop the bloodless transplant.
“It has almost made it somewhat easier by being an atheist and not having strongly held religious beliefs, being able to look at it from the outside,” Dr. Lill, director of the blood and marrow transplant program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif., told Ivanhoe.
Before the transplant, the patient takes hormones to stimulate red blood cell growth. The goal — get the red cell count high enough so blood isn’t needed during the transplant. Dr. Lill promises not to give the patients blood, even in an emergency. It worked for 25 people. One has died during treatment.
“We believe patients are putting themselves at a somewhat increased risk by not having blood transfusions,” Dr. Lill said. “I very much respect adult individual’s rights to make choices for themselves even if it is not in what I perceive to be their own best interest.”
Dr. Lill hopes the procedure prompts doctors to find new ways to conserve blood for all patients.
“I think it’s probably beneficial for people to lose as little blood as possible during their hospital stay,” he said.
John is weak, but so far, he’s one of the successes.
“It makes me feel better knowing that he respects us all the way to the very end,” wife Leina said. “If something should happen, he will [do] whatever you want to do.
The Lapez’s say taking the risk was better than their only other option — doing nothing at all.
lillThe biggest risk for the bloodless transplant is bleeding in the brain. Dr. Lill and his team make other adjustments to conserve blood. They draw less blood by using pediatric tubes instead of adult tubes. They also draw blood from a patient’s arm instead of a central line. That conserves a tablespoon of blood every time.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Simi Singer
Public Relations
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, CA
Public Relations: (310) 423-7798
