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Jehovah's Witnesses (jehovah + witness)
Selected AbstractsDisciplined Litigation, Vigilant Litigation, and Deformation: Dramatic Organization Change in Jehovah's WitnessesJOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 1 2001Pauline Côté Jehovah's Witnesses' long-term development presents an interesting case of evolution in line with the "deformation thesis," an attempt at explaining dramatic shifts in organizational forms, activities, and even beliefs in controversial religious minorities. Derived from resource mobilization tradition, this thesis assumes that radical transformations result from major defensive resource allocation mandated by negative reactions of societal institutions. This is especially the case with reference to the adoption by Jehovah's Witnesses, a millenarian group, of a "disciplined litigation"strategy in the 1940s, a pattern later to be incorporated in religious activities and beliefs of the organization. Today, disciplined litigation and its successor, "vigilant litigation," seem legitimate ways to adapt to the prevailing religious climate and structure. As such, it can be conceived as a model for defensive moves taken by "younger" controversial religious minorities and reflects the enormous influence of the law and legal systems in shaping minority religions. [source] Safety of cardiac surgery without blood transfusion: a retrospective study in Jehovah's Witness patientsANAESTHESIA, Issue 4 2010S. R. El Azab Summary The aim of this retrospective study was to compare the utilisation of blood products and outcomes following cardiac surgery for 123 Jehovah's Witnesses and 4219 non-Jehovah's Witness patient controls. The study took place over a 7-year period at the Amphia Hospital in Breda, the Netherlands. A specific protocol was used in the management of Jehovah's Witness patients, while the control group received blood without restriction according to their needs. Patients' characteristics were comparable in both groups. Pre-operatively, the mean (SD) Euro Score was higher in the Jehovah's Witness group (3.2 (2.6) vs 2.7 (2.5), respectively; p < 0.02). Pre-operative haemoglobin concentration was higher in the Jehovah's Witness group (8.9 (0.7) vs 8.6 (0.9) g.dl,1, respectively; p < 0.001). The total cardiopulmonary bypass time did not differ between groups. The requirement for allogenic blood transfusion was 0% in the Jehovah's Witness group compared to 65% in the control group. Postoperatively, there was a lower incidence of Q-wave myocardial infarction (2 (1.8%) vs 323 (7.7%), respectively; p < 0.02), and non Q-wave infarction (11 (9.8%) vs 559 (13.2%), respectively; p < 0.02) in the Jehovah's Witness group compared with controls. Mean (SD) length of stay in the intensive care unit (2.3 (3.2) vs 2.6 (4.2) days; p = 0.26), re-admission rate to the intensive care unit (5 (4.5%) vs 114 (2.7%); p = 0.163), and mortality (3 (2.7%) vs 65 (1.5%); p = 0.59), did not differ between the Jehovah's Witness and control groups, respectively. [source] Jehovah's Witnesses: who or what defines ,best interests'ANAESTHESIA, Issue 1 2007R. Carter No abstract is available for this article. [source] Maternal mortality and serious maternal morbidity in Jehovah's witnesses in the NetherlandsBJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 8 2009ME Van Wolfswinkel Objective, To determine the risk of maternal mortality and serious maternal morbidity because of major obstetric haemorrhage in Jehovah's witnesses in the Netherlands. Design, A retrospective study of case notes. Setting, All tertiary care centres, general teaching hospitals and other general hospitals in the Netherlands. Sample, All cases of maternal mortality in the Netherlands between 1983 and 2006 and all cases of serious maternal morbidity in the Netherlands between 2004 and 2006. Methods, Study of case notes using two different nationwide enquiries over two different time periods. Main outcome measures, Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and risk of serious maternal mortality. Results, The MMR for Jehovah's witnesses was 68 per 100 000 live births. We found a risk of 14 per 1000 for Jehovah's witnesses to experience serious maternal morbidity because of obstetric haemorrhage while the risk for the total pregnant population was 4.5 per 1000. Conclusions, Women who are Jehovah's witnesses are at a six times increased risk for maternal death, at a 130 times increased risk for maternal death because of major obstetric haemorrhage and at a 3.1 times increased risk for serious maternal morbidity because of obstetric haemorrhage, compared to the general Dutch population. [source] |