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Blood doctrine · Claim record

The New York court gave the hospital temporary custody of the New York seventeen-year-old on 22 June 1989 for transfusion only if necessary to save her life; the article records that ‘Crystal never needed blood, and none was ever transfused’, and that one doctor had predicted she would be dead on 16 June.

Claim ID claim-blood-1994-moore-never-transfusedConcerns 22 June 1989Explicit statement
Explicit statement · 22 June 1989 Supported

The New York court gave the hospital temporary custody of the New York seventeen-year-old on 22 June 1989 for transfusion only if necessary to save her life; the article records that ‘Crystal never needed blood, and none was ever transfused’, and that one doctor had predicted she would be dead on 16 June. Awake!, 22 May 1994Awake!, 22 May 1994

The organisation’s position or later explanation: The article draws the lesson explicitly: ‘When doctors wanting court orders to give blood declare blatantly that if the judge doesn’t comply immediately, the patient will die, let them remember the case of the New York seventeen-year-old.’ This is the organisation’s strongest argument in the issue and should be quoted.

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

Awake!, “Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal””

22 May 1994 · pp.11-12 · pars. 28-29 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.

“This guardianship terminated when Crystal was discharged from the hospital. Crystal never needed blood, and none was ever transfused, but it is shocking to see how the court treated Crystal.”

The order giving the hospital temporary custody was made on 22 June 1989 and allowed transfusion only if ‘necessary to protect and save her life’. The article adds that Crystal afterwards graduated from high school with honours and became a full-time minister. The page 12 marker falls inside the preceding sentence.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.

Corroborated by. src-g-1994-0522-power-beyond-normal

Notes. No reported judgment and no contemporaneous news report of these New York proceedings was located; the case appears to be unreported.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-g94d-moore-never-transfused

Primary JW publication Verified

Awake!, “Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal””

22 May 1994 · p.11 · par. 24 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.

“He further stated that if Crystal tried to resist the transfusions, he would tie her to the bed with wrist and leg restraints to accomplish the procedure. Crystal told the doctors that she would “scream and holler” if they attempted to transfuse her and that as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, she viewed any forcible administration of blood to be as repulsive as rape.”

Evidence at a hearing convened at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, on the morning of 16 June 1989, after the hospital applied to the Supreme Court of the State of New York for authority to transfuse the New York seventeen-year-old, 17, who had inflammatory bowel disease.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.

Corroborated by. src-g-1994-0522-power-beyond-normal

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-g94d-moore-restraints-and-rape

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-blood-1994-moore-never-transfused/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.