Blood transfusions are forbidden under Jehovah's Witness doctrine, which holds that the Old and New Testaments command them to abstain from blood. They also support Jehovah's Witness families "if the doctors begin pressuring patients or their legal representative to accept a blood transfusion," O'Donnell told CBC Montreal. "The underlying Jehovah's Witness dogma [on blood] is the reason they are there," he said. Jehovah's Witness adherents have that fear instilled in them from an early age, he said. ​Former Jehovah's Witness Mark O'Donnell and his wife Kimberly in a photo taken at the Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn, NY, before he left the religious group.

Source: CBC News October 22, 2016 21:00 UTC