§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Jehovah's Witnesses died as a result of refusing medically advised blood transfusions in each of the last five years. [104764]
§ Mr. DenhamWe do not hold this information centrally. Clinicians are required by law to respect the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses who do not wish to receive blood transfusions. In some cases, there are acceptable alternative medical interventions. For instance, for surgical operations, we asked NHS Trusts to consider the introduction of perioperative cell salvage by March 2000. This process retrieves the patient's own blood cells during surgery, which may be acceptable to some Jehovah's Witnesses.