I have so many problems with this article. First, let start with this woman was so severely injured that she only had 1 litre of blood left? She would not have lived long enough to receive the synthesized blood from the USA, no matter how fast it could be medevaced in. She probably wouldn’t have made it if it was already there in Australia at another hospital and waited for it to be sent over. These minutes and first hour after injury are critical.
Second, I have come face to face with many Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding treatment relating to blood products. They are very clear about receiving no transfusions and no blood products which include red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets or plasma. They also do not allow banking their own blood in advance to be used during surgery. I’ve even seen them deny dialysis since the blood is removed from the body to be cleaned and filtered and returned to the patient’s own body.
Now there are varying degrees of how rigorous some are in their beliefs. The more devout will stand behind their beliefs until the bitter end, but some fold and accept medical treatment to save their own life or the life of their loved one.
Synthesized blood is very cutting edge in medical research, if either by stem cell or bioengineered using animal products. We are already using many animal products in bone graft surgery, nerve replacement surgery, heart valve surgery and many more. I look forward to when true synthesized blood is used but I see too many holes in this story.