Le numéro de Réveillez-vous ! du 22 mai 1994 est la publication la plus souvent citée, et la plus souvent mal décrite, de toute l’histoire de la règle sur le sang. Cette page expose précisément ce que ce numéro dit, qui il nomme, ce qu’il consigne sur chacun d’eux, et ce que l’affirmation qui circule sur internet au sujet de sa couverture a d’inexact.
Dernière vérification le 19 septembre 2026
AWAKE!22 May 1994“Youths Who Put God First”Feature articles, pages 3 to 15
Set in type, not reproduced. The artwork of the cover is not shown here. Still published on the organisation’s own online library, so every quotation below can be checked against it.
Ce numéro est la publication la plus souvent citée de toute l’histoire de la règle sur le sang, et aussi la plus souvent mal décrite. Ces deux choses comptent, et cette page remplit donc deux fonctions : elle expose précisément ce que ce numéro rapporte, et elle expose précisément ce qu’il ne rapporte pas.
Ce qu’il rapporte est déjà assez grave en soi. La revue grand public de l’organisation elle-même a dit à ses lecteurs que de jeunes Témoins mouraient pour avoir placé Dieu en premier, que la question était celle des transfusions sanguines, puis elle en a nommé six.
En bref
The issue’s contents page framed young Witnesses who refused blood as continuing a tradition of youths who ‘died for putting God first’, ‘with blood transfusions the issue’.Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
La couverture est un montage de photographies de jeunes gens. Le numéro ne les identifie pas et ne dit pas ce qui leur est arrivé. L’affirmation courante selon laquelle « tous les enfants de la couverture sont morts » n’est pas étayée par la publication, et nous ne la reprenons pas.
In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.
Cette phrase est la présentation faite par la publication elle-même, sur son propre sommaire : elle place les jeunes qui refusent le sang dans la lignée de jeunes qui « sont morts pour avoir placé Dieu en premier », et elle dit qu’« ils le font encore ». Ces deux formulations sont celles de l’organisation, pas celles d’un détracteur.
Le numéro de Réveillez-vous ! du 22 mai 1994 présentait sa série de couverture en affirmant que des jeunes continuent (‘are still’) de mourir pour avoir fait passer Dieu en premier, ‘with blood transfusions the issue’. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.2 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.”
The contents page introduces the series ‘Youths Who Put God First’ on pages 3–15. It does not name or count the young people pictured on the cover.
Notes.The cover (a montage of photographs of young people beneath the title) is not reproduced on the Online Library; a low-resolution scan hosted by a discovery site was viewed but the number of people pictured could not be reliably counted from it.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g-1994-0522-contents
Sur les trente-deux pages du Réveillez-vous ! du 22 mai 1994, quatorze portent sur le sang : les deux articles de fond des pages 3 à 15, et un autre article, page 31, consacré à des hémophiles contaminés par des produits sanguins en France, en Allemagne, au Canada et en Espagne. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 décembre 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L'index annuel 1994 du magazine lui-même classe la série sous ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ et la qualifie de ‘(Blood Issue)’.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · pp.1-32 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’ … Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal””
The issue runs to 32 pages and contains twelve items. The official publication file records the page range of each: Page Two (2); ‘He “Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth”’ (3-8); ‘Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”’ (9-15); ‘Alligators—Rare, White, and Blue-Eyed!’ (16-17); ‘What If I Fall For an Unbeliever?’ (18-20); ‘Is the Bible Irrelevant?’ (21); ‘Your Chop Your Signature’ (22-24); ‘Put Humor Into Your Life’ (25-27); ‘Watching the World’ (28-29); ‘From Our Readers’ (30); ‘Contaminated Blood Given to Hemophiliacs’ (31); ‘The “Godly Fear” District Convention Is At Hand’ (32). The two blood articles occupy pages 3-15, thirteen of the issue's thirty-two pages. Neither of them is headed ‘Youths Who Put God First’: that is the cover title. Inside the issue the phrase occurs only in the page 2 contents item, which reads ‘Youths Who Put God First 3-15’ (Watchtower Online Library document 101994360, par. 2; src-g-1994-0522-contents), and in the magazine’s own 1994 annual index.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Awake!, 22 May 1994 (complete issue; official publication file g_E_19940522.jwpub)
Note sur la fiabilité.The issue listing was opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, and the official publication file g_E_19940522.jwpub (linked from the JW.org pub-media service at https://cfp2.jw-cdn.org/a/044135e/2/o/g_E_19940522.jwpub) was downloaded and its publication database read directly; the twelve documents and their first and last page numbers are taken from that file. Both steps were repeated independently by the auditor on 19 September 2026: the twelve rows of the Document table and their FirstPageNumber and LastPageNumber values match, and the pub-media service offers this issue in JWPUB format only, with an empty pubImage entry.
Notes.The official publication file contains no multimedia records at all (the Multimedia, DocumentMultimedia and ExtractMultimedia tables are empty and the manifest lists no images), so the authorised digital edition of this issue carries no photographs or illustrations. The printed issue did carry pictures: the Watchtower Online Library text retains picture and picture-credit lines for pages 16, 19, 21, 23, 26, 31 and 32. There is no such line in either of the two blood articles.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-issue-contents-map
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.31 · pars. 1-6 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“BLOOD has become a two-billion-dollar-a-year business. The pursuit of profits from it has resulted in a gigantic tragedy in France. HIV-contaminated blood caused the death of 250 hemophiliacs in AIDS-related illnesses, with hundreds more infected.”
A further item in the same issue, on page 31, summarising the contaminated-blood scandals in France, Germany, Canada and Spain and the United States factor VIII warnings, citing The Boston Globe, Guardian Weekly, The Globe and Mail, The Medical Post, The New York Times and Dateline NBC.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Contaminated Blood Given to Hemophiliacs
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 décembre 1994 · p.31 · entry under ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Youths Who Put God First (Blood Issue), 5/22”
The magazine’s own annual index for 1994 lists the series under ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’ and labels it, in parentheses, ‘Blood Issue’. The same index lists the page 31 item as ‘Contaminated Blood to Hemophiliacs, 5/22’ under ‘Health and Medicine’.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Index to Volume 75 of Awake!
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Le même numéro comportait, page 31, un article rapportant la contamination d'hémophiles par des produits sanguins infectés par le VIH en France, en Allemagne, au Canada et en Espagne, ainsi que le retrait tardif du facteur VIII non chauffé aux États-Unis. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L'article cite comme sources The Boston Globe, Guardian Weekly, The Globe and Mail, The Medical Post, The New York Times et Dateline NBC, et les faits qu'il décrit sont publiquement attestés dans chacun de ces pays.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.31 · pars. 1-6 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“BLOOD has become a two-billion-dollar-a-year business. The pursuit of profits from it has resulted in a gigantic tragedy in France. HIV-contaminated blood caused the death of 250 hemophiliacs in AIDS-related illnesses, with hundreds more infected.”
A further item in the same issue, on page 31, summarising the contaminated-blood scandals in France, Germany, Canada and Spain and the United States factor VIII warnings, citing The Boston Globe, Guardian Weekly, The Globe and Mail, The Medical Post, The New York Times and Dateline NBC.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Contaminated Blood Given to Hemophiliacs
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Le tableau ne consigne que ce que les deux articles eux-mêmes affirment. Les âges sont ceux indiqués dans le numéro. La colonne « Issue » reprend la formulation de l’article ou une paraphrase fidèle ; lorsque l’article fait état d’une survie, c’est la situation au moment de la rédaction, en 1994, et nous ne disons rien de la vie de ces personnes depuis.
Named in Awake!, 22 May 1994, pages 3–15
Name
Age
Place
Condition
What was refused
Outcome as recorded
Source
Adrian Yeatts
14 at diagnosis (15 in later accounts)
Newfoundland, Canada
Abdominal lymphoma, then leukaemia (1993)
Blood transfusions; court declared him a mature minor
Died Died 13 September 1993, the day after his baptism
Alive in 1994 Transfused under a court order (“once”, per the magazine; the judgment records several transfusions over about six weeks — see below); “no further transfusions”; “did not die from her leukemia”
Les deux articles de fond du Réveillez-vous ! du 22 mai 1994 nomment six jeunes qui ont refusé le sang. Le numéro rapporte que trois sont morts (Adrian Yeatts, 14 ans ; Lenae Martinez, 12 ans ; Lisa Kosack, 12 ans) et que trois étaient en vie au moment de la rédaction (l'enfant de trois ans de l'Ohio, 3 ans ; l'adolescente de dix-sept ans de New York, 17 ans ; E.G., 17 ans). Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · pp.3-8 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I just could not live with myself if I am given blood.”
The article, narrated by his father, describes Adrian Yeatts of Newfoundland, Canada, aged 14, diagnosed with a fast-growing abdominal lymphoma in March 1993 and subsequently leukaemia. Newfoundland’s Supreme Court (Justice Robert Wells) held in July 1993 that he was a mature minor whose refusal of blood would be respected. He was baptised in a hospital physiotherapy tank on 12 September 1993 and the article records that he died the next day. A boxed item describes a bloodless heart transplant for three-year-old the three-year-old in Ohio of Ohio in October 1993, reported a month later as doing well. The article also records the medical advice as the family reported it: Dr Jardine 'explained that a very aggressive chemotherapy program with blood transfusions was the only way Adrian could possibly live'; 'chemotherapy was started, without the transfusions'; and it closes by saying that he rejected transfusions 'that could conceivably have extended his present life'.
22 mai 1994 · pp.9-15 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“After a long, difficult night, at 6:30 a.m., September 22, 1993, Lenae fell asleep in death in the arms of her mother.”
The article profiles four young people: Lenae Martinez, 12, Fresno, California, leukaemia — recorded as having died on 22 September 1993; the New York seventeen-year-old, 17, New York City, inflammatory bowel disease — ‘Crystal never needed blood, and none was ever transfused’; Lisa Kosack, 12, Toronto, acute myeloid leukaemia — ‘She died peacefully at home, in the loving arms of her mother and father’; E.G., 17, Chicago, leukaemia — ‘Ernestine had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia.’ E.G. (par. 59) was transfused once under a trial-court order 'in spite of her vigorous protests'; the Illinois Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court then upheld her right to refuse (pars. 60-61), and the article records that she 'had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia' (par. 63).
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have ‘Power Beyond What Is Normal’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; names, ages, places and outcome sentences confirmed from the article text.
Notes.Together with the first article, the issue names six young people: three recorded as having died and three recorded as alive at the time of writing.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g-1994-0522-power-beyond-normal
The first article is narrated by Adrian’s father. It describes a fast-growing abdominal tumour found in March 1993, a diagnosis of lymphoma and then leukaemia, and a child-welfare application to Newfoundland’s Supreme Court, which ruled in July 1993 that he was a mature minor whose refusal of blood would be respected.Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
I just could not live with myself if I am given blood.
Dr. Jardine now explained that a very aggressive chemotherapy program with blood transfusions was the only way Adrian could possibly live. Adrian, however, still refused blood transfusions. Chemotherapy was started, without the transfusions.
The article records the medical advice as the family reported it: the treating doctor ‘explained that a very aggressive chemotherapy program with blood transfusions was the only way Adrian could possibly live’, and ‘chemotherapy was started, without the transfusions’. The magazine itself closes by saying that he rejected transfusions ‘that could conceivably have extended his present life’. We quote those sentences because they are the organisation’s own record of what the doctors said. We do not say what would have happened had he accepted; the article does not, and nobody can. It records a fourteen-year-old’s conviction, a court’s respect for it, and his death.Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
L’article rapporte trois autres éléments sur les jours qui ont précédé sa mort, chacun étant le récit de la revue elle-même.
L’article rapporte qu’Adrian Yeatts, alors âgé de quatorze ans, s’est vu demander directement par son oncologue s’il se rendait compte qu’il pouvait mourir sans transfusion, et qu’il a répondu « Yes » puis « If that’s what it takes », et qu’après la biopsie le médecin a dit qu’une chimiothérapie agressive accompagnée de transfusions était le seul moyen par lequel il pourrait éventuellement vivre. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’article présente cet échange comme la preuve d’une décision éclairée et indépendante, et cite la satisfaction de son avocat, pour qui « he exercised a mind of his own ».
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.4 · pars. 11-14 (Watchtower Online Library paragraph ids p11-p14) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Dr. Jardine asked, “Do you realize that you could die if you don’t take a blood transfusion?” “Yes.” “And you’re willing to do that?” “If that’s what it takes.””
The exchange is reported as taking place at the Dr. Charles A. Janeway Child Health Centre, St John’s, Newfoundland, while Adrian Yeatts, then 14, was awaiting a biopsy to be performed without blood. The oncologist is named in the article as Dr Lawrence Jardine.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 1994 · p.5 · par. 17 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The biopsy was performed on March 18. It showed that Adrian had a large lymphoma tumor. A subsequent bone marrow biopsy confirmed the fear that he had developed leukemia.”
The article dates the biopsy to 18 March 1993 and records that the treating oncologist then said aggressive chemotherapy with blood transfusions was the only way Adrian could possibly live, and that chemotherapy was begun without transfusions.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 1994 · pp.3-8 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I just could not live with myself if I am given blood.”
The article, narrated by his father, describes Adrian Yeatts of Newfoundland, Canada, aged 14, diagnosed with a fast-growing abdominal lymphoma in March 1993 and subsequently leukaemia. Newfoundland’s Supreme Court (Justice Robert Wells) held in July 1993 that he was a mature minor whose refusal of blood would be respected. He was baptised in a hospital physiotherapy tank on 12 September 1993 and the article records that he died the next day. A boxed item describes a bloodless heart transplant for three-year-old the three-year-old in Ohio of Ohio in October 1993, reported a month later as doing well. The article also records the medical advice as the family reported it: Dr Jardine 'explained that a very aggressive chemotherapy program with blood transfusions was the only way Adrian could possibly live'; 'chemotherapy was started, without the transfusions'; and it closes by saying that he rejected transfusions 'that could conceivably have extended his present life'.
Dans un affidavit signé produit devant la Cour suprême de Terre-Neuve, Adrian Yeatts écrivait qu'il savait qu'il pouvait mourir sans sang, que personne ne l'avait poussé à prendre cette décision, et qu'une transfusion ‘will be like raping me, molesting my body’, concluant : ‘Please respect me and my wishes.’ Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Le tribunal a accepté l'affidavit, et le juge s'est entretenu avec le garçon à l'hôpital avant de le déclarer mineur mature.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.6 · par. 24 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I won’t agree to blood or let it be used; no way. I know I could die if no blood is used. But that is my decision. No one talked me into that. … The way I feel is that if I’m given any blood that will be like raping me, molesting my body. … Please respect me and my wishes.”
Extracts from a signed affidavit prepared by Adrian, who was too ill to appear, and put before the Supreme Court of Newfoundland on Monday 19 July 1993 by counsel, David C. Day QC. The article prints the affidavit at length. The second ellipsis in the quotation spans both further affidavit text (‘I don’t want my body if that happens… I’ll resist use of blood.’) and the magazine’s own narration, ‘Adrian’s affidavit ended with this appeal:’; the closing sentence is the affidavit’s, but it is introduced by the magazine and not printed continuously with the rest.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.The article twice uses the language of sexual violation — here and in Lisa Kosack’s evidence on page 13 — to describe a transfusion given against the patient’s will.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-yeatts-affidavit
Le juge Wells a rejeté les demandes du directeur de la protection de l’enfance ; il a retenu, dans ses propres termes, que le sang « [had] not been demonstrated to be essential » et « could be harmful » dans les circonstances, et il a déclaré que le garçon était un mineur mature dont le souhait d’être soigné sans sang devait être respecté ; la Cour suprême du Canada a résumé plus tard cette même décision, publiée sous la référence Re A.Y. (1993), 111 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 91, et a rapporté que le juge Wells avait relevé que le traitement avait moins de quarante pour cent de chances d’être efficace, qu’il n’était pas « essential » et qu’il était contraire aux souhaits de l’adolescent mature. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Supreme Court of Canada, 26 juin 2009
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’organisation cite des décisions de ce genre comme une justification de la conscience et des droits de l’enfant, une présentation qu’elle a rendue explicite dans l’article complémentaire de 1995.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · pp.6-8 · pars. 29-37 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“For the following reasons, the applications of the Director of Child Welfare are dismissed; the child is not in need of protection; the use of blood or blood products for the purposes of blood transfusion or injection have not been demonstrated to be essential, and in the particular circumstances of this case, could be harmful.”
The article prints extracts from the decision of Wells J of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland, given on Monday 19 July 1993, and states that the decision was later published in the Human Rights Law Journal of 30 September 1993. Further extracts record the judge’s findings that the boy was ‘mature beyond any normal expectation’ and that forcing treatment on him would drastically reduce his suitability for that treatment.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.The judgment is reported as Re A.Y. (1993), 111 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 91 (Nfld. S.C.); the Human Rights Law Journal printing cited by the magazine was not opened.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-yeatts-wells-decision
26 juin 2009 · pp.[2009] 2 S.C.R. 181 at 221-222 · paras. 62-63 (and para. 128 per McLachlin CJ) · Abella J · Supreme Court of Canada
“In Re L.D.K. (1985), 48 R.F.L. (2d) 164 (Ont. Prov. Ct. (Fam. Div.)), for example, the patient was a 12-year-old girl suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia. … In Re A.Y. (1993), 111 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 91 (Nfld. S.C.), the court was faced with an application from the Director of Child Welfare to impose treatment on a 15-year-old Jehovah’s Witness who had cancer.”
The Supreme Court of Canada’s own summary of the two Canadian decisions described in the 22 May 1994 Awake!. Of Re L.D.K. the Court records that two doctors put the odds of a favourable outcome at around 30 per cent, that Main Prov. Ct. J. found ‘the emotional trauma [the child] would experience’ in forced treatment would outweigh the anticipated benefits (p. 169), and that he concluded ‘[T]his child’s life is equally in danger whichever path is taken’ (p. 170). Of Re A.Y. it records that Wells J noted the treatment was less than 40 per cent likely to be effective, was not ‘essential’, and was contrary to the mature adolescent’s wishes, so that he was not a child in need of protection. At para. 128 the Chief Justice describes the same boy as ‘a 15-year-old boy suffering from terminal cancer’.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Supreme Court of Canada, A.C. v. Manitoba (Director of Child and Family Services), 2009 SCC 30, [2009] 2 S.C.R. 181
Note sur la fiabilité.The official Supreme Court of Canada PDF of the judgment was downloaded from decisions.scc-csc.ca (with a Referer header, since the file otherwise returns 403), converted to text with pdftotext and read; paragraphs 62, 63 and 128 were confirmed word for word.
Notes.This is the best available confirmation of the citations for the Kosack and Yeatts proceedings. Neither law report was opened directly; CanLII is bot-blocked in this environment.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-scc-ac-paras-62-63
Après l’audience, le médecin traitant a dit à Adrian Yeatts qu’il lui restait une ou deux semaines à vivre ; il a vécu huit semaines de plus, a été baptisé dans un bassin de physiothérapie de l’hôpital le 12 septembre 1993 et est mort le lendemain. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 1994 · p.8 · par. 42 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“So the nurses kindly arranged for him to use one of the stainless steel tanks in the physiotherapy room. He was baptized there September 12; he died the next day, September 13.”
The closing of the mother’s account. Baptism is the act by which a person formally becomes one of Jehovah’s Witnesses; Adrian was baptised the day before he died, having refused blood since March of that year.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
L'article se referme dans la voix propre du magazine : ‘By rejecting blood transfusions that could conceivably have extended his present life, Adrian Yeatts showed himself to be one of the many young people who put God first.’ Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : JW.org qualifie aujourd'hui de mythe l'affirmation selon laquelle des Témoins, enfants compris, meurent chaque année pour avoir refusé le sang, et ajoute que ‘no one can say for certain that a patient will die because of refusing blood or will live because of accepting it’.
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.8 · par. 45 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“By rejecting blood transfusions that could conceivably have extended his present life, Adrian Yeatts showed himself to be one of the many young people who put God first.”
The final sentence of the article, written in the magazine’s own voice rather than a family member’s.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 1994 · p.2 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.”
The contents page introduces the series ‘Youths Who Put God First’ on pages 3–15. It does not name or count the young people pictured on the cover.
Notes.The cover (a montage of photographs of young people beneath the title) is not reproduced on the Online Library; a low-resolution scan hosted by a discovery site was viewed but the number of people pictured could not be reliably counted from it.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g-1994-0522-contents
Le second article, « Youths Who Have ‘Power Beyond What Is Normal’ », présente quatre autres jeunes. Lenae Martinez, douze ans, de Fresno (Californie), est la première.
At 6:30 a.m., September 22, 1993, Lenae fell asleep in death in the arms of her mother.
Des médecins ont dit à Lenae Martinez, douze ans, ses parents étant sortis de la pièce, que des transfusions prolongeraient sa vie d'environ trois à six mois et que, sans sang, elle mourrait en quelques jours ; elle a répondu qu'elle ne se détournerait pas de Dieu ‘for six months of life’. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L'article présente cet échange comme la preuve de sa maturité et rapporte que les médecins et l'avocat sont sortis dire à ses parents ‘she thinks and talks like an adult and is able to make her own decisions’.
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Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.10 · pars. 12-17 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
““But blood transfusions will prolong your life. If you refuse blood, you will die in a few days.” “If I take blood,” Lenae asked, “how long will that prolong my life?” “About three to six months,” they answered.”
Two doctors and a lawyer spoke to Lenae Martinez, 12, alone at Valley Children’s Hospital, Fresno, California, having asked her parents to leave. She replied that she would not turn away from God ‘for six months of life’.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Aucune ordonnance judiciaire n'a été demandée dans le cas de Lenae Martinez : un comité d'éthique du Valley Children's Hospital de Fresno, comprenant un professeur d'éthique de la Fresno State University, l'a considérée comme une mineure mature, et elle est morte à 6 h 30 le 22 septembre 1993. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L'article rapporte que ses parents et ses amis ont été ‘deeply grateful’ que l'hôpital ait discerné sa maturité et qu'aucune procédure judiciaire n'ait été nécessaire.
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.10 · par. 18 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“This committee, made up of doctors and other health-care professionals, along with a professor of ethics from Fresno State University, made the decision to allow Lenae to make her own decisions with regard to her medical treatment. They considered Lenae a mature minor. No court order was sought.”
The article records that the hospital’s ethics committee, not a court, decided that Lenae was a mature minor. Hers is the only one of the four accounts in this article in which no court became involved.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 1994 · p.10 · pars. 19-20 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“After a long, difficult night, at 6:30 a.m., September 22, 1993, Lenae fell asleep in death in the arms of her mother. … There were 482 who attended the memorial service, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, who had been impressed by Lenae’s faith and integrity.”
The article gives the date and hour of death and the attendance at the memorial service, and adds that her parents and friends were ‘deeply grateful’ that no court case had been necessary.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Lisa Kosack, douze ans, de Toronto, a fait l’objet de la procédure ontarienne habituellement citée sous le nom de Re L.D.K. L’article rapporte son propre récit de la nuit où elle a été transfusée pour la première fois.
She died peacefully at home, in the loving arms of her mother and father.
Lisa Kosack, douze ans, a raconté avoir été transfusée à minuit lors de sa première nuit à l'Hospital for Sick Children de Toronto, après avoir dit à l'infirmière qu'elle était Témoin de Jéhovah ; l'hôpital a demandé une ordonnance judiciaire le lendemain matin et, après une audience de cinq jours tenue à l'hôpital, le juge Main a conclu qu'elle avait fait l'objet d'une discrimination fondée sur la religion et sur l'âge au sens de l'article 15(1) de la Charte canadienne, et qu'il avait été porté atteinte à son droit à la sécurité de sa personne garanti par l'article 7. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Le juge l'a décrite comme ‘a beautiful, extremely intelligent, articulate, courteous, sensitive and, most importantly, a courageous person’, dotée d'une ‘wisdom and maturity well beyond her years’, et il a rejeté la demande.
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.12 · par. 32 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“At midnight a nurse came in and said: ‘I have to give you some blood.’ I cried out: ‘I can’t take blood because I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses! I hope you know that! I hope you know that!’ ‘Well, yes, I do,’ she said, and immediately pulled out my IV and shoved in the blood. I was crying and becoming hysterical.”
Lisa Kosack’s own account, quoted in the article, of her first night at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. She was 12 and had acute myeloid leukaemia. The hospital sought a court order the following morning.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 1994 · p.14 · pars. 46-51 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I must find that she has been discriminated against on the basis of her religion and her age pursuant to s. 15(1). In these circumstances, upon being given a blood transfusion, her right to the security of her person pursuant to s. 7 was infringed.”
Extracts printed in the article from the decision of Judge Main. The sections cited are sections 7 and 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He also said he refused to make any order that would put the child through the ordeal of a forced transfusion, described her as ‘courageous’ with ‘wisdom and maturity well beyond her years’, and dismissed the application.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.Reported as Re L.D.K. (1985), 48 R.F.L. (2d) 164 (Ont. Prov. Ct. (Fam. Div.)). The law report itself was not opened; the citation is confirmed from the Supreme Court of Canada.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-kosack-judgment
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · pp.13-14 · pars. 35-44 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
““Do you want to die?” “No, I don’t think anybody wants to die, but if I do die I’m not going to be scared, because I know that I have the hope of everlasting life in a paradise on earth.””
Lisa gave evidence on the fourth day of a five-day hearing held in a room at the hospital before Judge David R. Main, with Lisa present throughout. The article reports that the doctors prescribed multiple transfusions and intensive chemotherapy and put the rate of cure at 30 per cent.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
La procédure que décrit l'article est rapportée sous la référence Re L.D.K. (1985), 48 R.F.L. (2d) 164 (Cour provinciale de l'Ontario, division de la famille) ; la Cour suprême du Canada l'a résumée dans A.C. v. Manitoba, notant que deux médecins évaluaient à environ trente pour cent les chances d'une issue favorable et que le juge avait conclu qu'un traitement imposé causerait un traumatisme affectif l'emportant sur le bénéfice escompté. Source: Supreme Court of Canada, 26 juin 2009Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
26 juin 2009 · pp.[2009] 2 S.C.R. 181 at 221-222 · paras. 62-63 (and para. 128 per McLachlin CJ) · Abella J · Supreme Court of Canada
“In Re L.D.K. (1985), 48 R.F.L. (2d) 164 (Ont. Prov. Ct. (Fam. Div.)), for example, the patient was a 12-year-old girl suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia. … In Re A.Y. (1993), 111 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 91 (Nfld. S.C.), the court was faced with an application from the Director of Child Welfare to impose treatment on a 15-year-old Jehovah’s Witness who had cancer.”
The Supreme Court of Canada’s own summary of the two Canadian decisions described in the 22 May 1994 Awake!. Of Re L.D.K. the Court records that two doctors put the odds of a favourable outcome at around 30 per cent, that Main Prov. Ct. J. found ‘the emotional trauma [the child] would experience’ in forced treatment would outweigh the anticipated benefits (p. 169), and that he concluded ‘[T]his child’s life is equally in danger whichever path is taken’ (p. 170). Of Re A.Y. it records that Wells J noted the treatment was less than 40 per cent likely to be effective, was not ‘essential’, and was contrary to the mature adolescent’s wishes, so that he was not a child in need of protection. At para. 128 the Chief Justice describes the same boy as ‘a 15-year-old boy suffering from terminal cancer’.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Supreme Court of Canada, A.C. v. Manitoba (Director of Child and Family Services), 2009 SCC 30, [2009] 2 S.C.R. 181
Note sur la fiabilité.The official Supreme Court of Canada PDF of the judgment was downloaded from decisions.scc-csc.ca (with a Referer header, since the file otherwise returns 403), converted to text with pdftotext and read; paragraphs 62, 63 and 128 were confirmed word for word.
Notes.This is the best available confirmation of the citations for the Kosack and Yeatts proceedings. Neither law report was opened directly; CanLII is bot-blocked in this environment.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-scc-ac-paras-62-63
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.14 · pars. 46-51 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I must find that she has been discriminated against on the basis of her religion and her age pursuant to s. 15(1). In these circumstances, upon being given a blood transfusion, her right to the security of her person pursuant to s. 7 was infringed.”
Extracts printed in the article from the decision of Judge Main. The sections cited are sections 7 and 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He also said he refused to make any order that would put the child through the ordeal of a forced transfusion, described her as ‘courageous’ with ‘wisdom and maturity well beyond her years’, and dismissed the application.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.Reported as Re L.D.K. (1985), 48 R.F.L. (2d) 164 (Ont. Prov. Ct. (Fam. Div.)). The law report itself was not opened; the citation is confirmed from the Supreme Court of Canada.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-kosack-judgment
Une jeune fille de dix-sept ans de Chicago, nommée dans la revue et anonymisée par les tribunaux de l’Illinois sous les initiales E.G., est présentée comme ayant survécu. L’affaire est allée jusqu’à la Cour suprême de l’Illinois, et sa décision est encore citée en droit à propos des mineurs matures. Nous reprenons ici l’identifiant retenu par la cour, car le propos n’a pas besoin de son nom.
L'article rapporte qu'après que le tribunal de première instance de Chicago eut jugé que E.G., dix-sept ans, était une mineure mature, il a néanmoins autorisé la transfusion, et que ‘the transfusion was forcibly given to Ernestine in spite of her vigorous protests’. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Afficher les preuves (1 source)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.15 · par. 59 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The court found that Ernestine was a mature 17-year-old, able to make informed medical decisions; yet, amazingly, the court granted an order allowing blood transfusions. At the hospital two doctors were standing by, transfusion equipment set up, and as soon as the court’s decision came in, the transfusion was forcibly given to Ernestine in spite of her vigorous protests.”
The article’s account of the trial-court stage of the Chicago proceedings reported as In re E.G. It names Dr Stanley Yachnin, Dr Ner Littner and the hospital’s attorney Jane McAtee as witnesses, all three of whom appear in the reported judgments.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.The reported judgments record that E.G. received several transfusions over a period of weeks under a guardianship order, not a single forced transfusion.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-gregory-forced-transfusion
L'article indique que E.G. ‘had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia’ ; son cas est, avec celui de l'adolescente de dix-sept ans de New York et celui de l'enfant de trois ans de l'Ohio, l'une des trois issues rapportées dans le numéro qui ne sont pas des décès. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.15 · par. 63 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Ernestine had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia. Ernestine stood firm and put God first, like the other young people mentioned previously. Each one received “power beyond what is normal.””
The closing sentences of the article, and the only statement in the issue about what happened to E.G. after the litigation.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 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.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 1994 · p.7 · pars. 50-54 (box on page 7, ‘Bloodless Heart Transplant’) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“On October 29, he performed the heart transplant on Chandra without blood. A month later Chandra was reported doing well.”
A box records that three-year-old the three-year-old in Ohio of Cleveland, Ohio, weighing 19 pounds, received a heart transplant without transfusion from Dr Charles Fraser on 29 October 1993, and quotes The Flint Journal of 1 December 1993 for the surgeon’s remarks about bloodless surgery. She is the only one of the six young people named in the issue who did not make the decision herself.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
La Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. est intervenue comme amicus curiae devant la Cour suprême de l'Illinois dans l'affaire In re E.G., représentée par Donald T. Ridley, de Brooklyn ; l'organisation était donc partie prenante au litige qu'elle a ensuite décrit à ses lecteurs. Source: Illinois Supreme Court, 18 novembre 1989
18 novembre 1989 · pp.133 Ill. 2d 98 · Ryan J · Illinois Supreme Court
“If the evidence is clear and convincing that the minor is mature enough to appreciate the consequences of her actions, and that the minor is mature enough to exercise the judgment of an adult, then the mature minor doctrine affords her the common law right to consent to or refuse medical treatment.”
The passage the 22 May 1994 Awake! quotes, confirmed against the reported text. Opinion filed 18 November 1989; rehearing denied 29 January 1990; Ward and Clark JJ dissenting. The head matter records that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. appeared as amicus curiae, by Donald T. Ridley of Brooklyn, New York.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Illinois Supreme Court, In re E.G., a Minor (The People of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. E.G., a Minor, Appellee), 133 Ill. 2d 98 (1989), No. 66089
Note sur la fiabilité.The full reported opinion was downloaded from the Caselaw Access Project and read; the quoted sentence, the parties, the date and the amicus entry were confirmed. Justia and CourtListener both refuse automated requests in this environment.
Provenance de la numérisation.Caselaw Access Project (Harvard Law School Library) static distribution of the official Illinois Reports text.
Notes.The Court decided the case on common-law grounds and expressly declined to decide the First Amendment question on which the Appellate Court had relied.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-ilsc-1989-eg-standard
A seventeen-year-old in New York City is recorded as never having been transfused: “Crystal never needed blood, and none was ever transfused.”Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Lors d'une audience tenue au Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center le 16 juin 1989, un médecin a déclaré que si l'adolescente de dix-sept ans de New York résistait à la transfusion, il l'attacherait au lit par des contentions aux poignets et aux jambes ; l'article rapporte également que le juge de première instance n'a pas voulu qu'elle témoigne au procès-verbal, bien qu'après lui avoir rendu visite il l'ait qualifiée de ‘obviously very intelligent’ et de ‘capable of expressing herself fully’. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 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.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 1994 · p.11 · pars. 25-26 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Despite her attorney’s repeated requests at the hearing, Crystal was denied the opportunity to speak for herself before the court to demonstrate her decision-making ability. … After the visit the trial judge said that Crystal was “obviously very intelligent” and “very articulate” and explained that Crystal “certainly was sound in mind” and “capable of expressing herself fully.””
The article states that the judge visited Crystal in her room for about twenty minutes but would not let her give evidence on the record, and characterises this as a denial of due process, bodily self-determination, privacy and religious freedom.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Le tribunal de New York a confié à l'hôpital la garde temporaire de l'adolescente de dix-sept ans de New York le 22 juin 1989, aux fins d'une transfusion uniquement si elle était nécessaire pour lui sauver la vie ; l'article rapporte que ‘Crystal never needed blood, and none was ever transfused’, et qu'un médecin avait prédit qu'elle serait morte le 16 juin. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L'article en tire explicitement la leçon : ‘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.’ C'est l'argument le plus fort de l'organisation dans ce numéro, et il devrait être cité.
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 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.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
22 mai 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.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
A boxed item in the first article adds a sixth case: a three-year-old girl in Ohio, who received a bloodless heart transplant in October 1993 and was “reported doing well” a month later.Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Là où la revue et le dossier judiciaire divergent
L’un des six récits peut être comparé directement à une décision de justice publiée, parce que l’affaire a été tranchée par la Cour suprême de l’Illinois et que la décision est publiée au recueil. Les deux récits ne concordent pas sur tous les points. Nous exposons cette différence plutôt que de la trancher : la décision est le document le plus formel, la revue est le récit de l’organisation elle-même, et le lecteur peut les soupeser.
Les décisions de justice rapportées diffèrent du récit du magazine sur deux points : elles indiquent que E.G. a reçu plusieurs transfusions sur environ six semaines dans le cadre d'une ordonnance de tutelle, et non une seule transfusion forcée, et la Cour suprême de l'Illinois a confirmé en partie et infirmé en partie sur le fondement de la common law, refusant expressément de trancher la question du Premier Amendement, refusant de dire si E.G. elle-même était une mineure mature parce que l'affaire était devenue sans objet, et renvoyant l'affaire afin que la déclaration de négligence prononcée contre sa mère soit radiée. Source: Illinois Supreme Court, 18 novembre 1989Source: Illinois Appellate Court, First District (3rd Division), 23 septembre 1987Source: Illinois Supreme Court, 18 novembre 1989Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : La description par le magazine de la décision d'appel comme ‘a two-to-one decision’ est exacte, et il cite mot pour mot le critère du mineur mature énoncé par la Cour suprême de l'Illinois.
18 novembre 1989 · pp.133 Ill. 2d 98 · Ryan J · Illinois Supreme Court
“On April 8, 1987, further hearings were held on this matter. E.G., having received several blood transfusions, was strong enough to take the stand.”
The reported facts: E.G. was diagnosed in February 1987 with acute nonlymphatic leukaemia; a temporary guardian with power to consent to transfusions was appointed on 25 February 1987; the trial court’s final ruling came on 18 May 1987; E.G. turned 18 on 25 November 1987. The Court also records her evidence that she asked to be sedated before the transfusions and said ‘[I]t seems as if everything that I wanted or believe in was just being disregarded.’ The Appellate Court reports the same events as ‘Appellant began receiving transfusions pursuant to this ruling.’
Notes.The reported facts describe a course of transfusions over roughly six weeks under a guardianship order; the Awake! account describes a single transfusion given ‘in spite of her vigorous protests’.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-ilsc-1989-eg-transfusions
23 septembre 1987 · pp.161 Ill. App. 3d 765 · White J (Freeman J concurring; McNamara PJ dissenting) · Illinois Appellate Court
“The court found probable cause to believe that appellant was medically neglected and appointed the hospital official temporary custodian with power to consent to all medical treatment. Appellant began receiving transfusions pursuant to this ruling.”
The intermediate decision the Awake! article describes as ‘a two-to-one decision’ — accurately: Justice White wrote, Justice Freeman concurred and Presiding Justice McNamara dissented at length. The court ordered E.G. partially emancipated and granted her the right to accept or refuse transfusions, but affirmed the trial court’s finding that she had been medically neglected.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Illinois Appellate Court, First District (3rd Division), In re E.G., a Minor, 161 Ill. App. 3d 765 (1987), Nos. 87—1791, 87—2065 cons.
Note sur la fiabilité.The full reported opinion and head matter were downloaded from the Caselaw Access Project on 19 September 2026 and read; the composition of the court and the disposition were confirmed.
Provenance de la numérisation.Caselaw Access Project (Harvard Law School Library) static distribution of the official Illinois Appellate Court Reports text.
Notes.The Illinois Supreme Court later affirmed in part and reversed in part, on common-law rather than constitutional grounds, and remanded for the neglect finding against the mother to be expunged.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-ilapp-1987-eg
18 novembre 1989 · pp.133 Ill. 2d 98 · Ryan J · Illinois Supreme Court
“If the evidence is clear and convincing that the minor is mature enough to appreciate the consequences of her actions, and that the minor is mature enough to exercise the judgment of an adult, then the mature minor doctrine affords her the common law right to consent to or refuse medical treatment.”
The passage the 22 May 1994 Awake! quotes, confirmed against the reported text. Opinion filed 18 November 1989; rehearing denied 29 January 1990; Ward and Clark JJ dissenting. The head matter records that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. appeared as amicus curiae, by Donald T. Ridley of Brooklyn, New York.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Illinois Supreme Court, In re E.G., a Minor (The People of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. E.G., a Minor, Appellee), 133 Ill. 2d 98 (1989), No. 66089
Note sur la fiabilité.The full reported opinion was downloaded from the Caselaw Access Project and read; the quoted sentence, the parties, the date and the amicus entry were confirmed. Justia and CourtListener both refuse automated requests in this environment.
Provenance de la numérisation.Caselaw Access Project (Harvard Law School Library) static distribution of the official Illinois Reports text.
Notes.The Court decided the case on common-law grounds and expressly declined to decide the First Amendment question on which the Appellate Court had relied.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-ilsc-1989-eg-standard
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.15 · par. 59 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The court found that Ernestine was a mature 17-year-old, able to make informed medical decisions; yet, amazingly, the court granted an order allowing blood transfusions. At the hospital two doctors were standing by, transfusion equipment set up, and as soon as the court’s decision came in, the transfusion was forcibly given to Ernestine in spite of her vigorous protests.”
The article’s account of the trial-court stage of the Chicago proceedings reported as In re E.G. It names Dr Stanley Yachnin, Dr Ner Littner and the hospital’s attorney Jane McAtee as witnesses, all three of whom appear in the reported judgments.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.The reported judgments record that E.G. received several transfusions over a period of weeks under a guardianship order, not a single forced transfusion.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-gregory-forced-transfusion
À côté des récits personnels, le numéro comportait des encadrés exposant les dangers de la transfusion. Leur construction mérite d’être relevée, car ce site s’astreint à une exigence de sourçage et il est juste d’appliquer ici la même exigence.
Un encadré de la page 13 rassemble huit citations sur les risques de la transfusion, dont trois sont attribuées à un médecin nommément désigné et dont aucune ne porte de numéro de volume, de numéro de parution ou de page ; le chiffre qu'il attribue au New England Journal of Medicine du 14 décembre 1989 — selon lequel une seule unité de sang pourrait contenir assez de virus pour provoquer jusqu'à 1,75 million d'infections — correspond, arithmétiquement, au titre plasmatique moyen de 3 500 doses infectieuses en culture tissulaire par millilitre rapporté dans ce numéro chez des patients atteints du SIDA, multiplié par le volume d'une unité ; or une dose infectieuse en culture tissulaire est une mesure de laboratoire de l'infection de cellules en culture, et aucun des deux articles de ce numéro ne traite de transfusion ni d'un nombre de personnes infectées. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: The New England Journal of Medicine, 14 décembre 1989Source: The American Journal of Surgery, septembre 1986
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L'encadré cite également le professeur Charles H. Baron, de la faculté de droit du Boston College, selon qui ‘All of American society has benefited… patients in general, are today less likely to be given unnecessary blood transfusions because of the work of the Witnesses’ Hospital Liaison Committees’. Cette page n'évalue pas si cette affirmation relative à l'épargne sanguine est exacte ; aucune source à son sujet n'a été ouverte.
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.13 · pars. 64-73 (box on page 13, ‘Dangers of Blood Transfusion’) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The New England Journal of Medicine, issue of December 14, 1989, reported that a single unit of blood may carry enough AIDS virus to cause up to 1.75 million infections!”
A box set between the Lisa Kosack and E.G. accounts gathers eight short quotations on transfusion risk, from the New England Journal of Medicine, the book Autologous and Directed Blood Programs (1987), Dr Charles Huggins (‘It is the most dangerous substance we use in medicine’), Surgery Annual (‘Clearly, the safest transfusion is the one not given’), Dr John S. Spratt in The American Journal of Surgery of September 1986, Emergency Medicine, Pathologist, and Professor Charles H. Baron of Boston College Law School.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.The box gives no volume, issue or page number for any of the eight quotations. Three of them name a person (Dr Charles Huggins, Dr John S. Spratt and Dr Charles H. Baron); the other five are attributed only to a journal or a book title.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-dangers-of-transfusion-box
14 décembre 1989 · pp.321(24):1621-1625 · Ho DD, Moudgil T, Alam M · Massachusetts Medical Society
“The mean titers in plasma were 30, 3500, and 3200 tissue-culture-infective doses (TCID) per milliliter for patients with asymptomatic infection, the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and the AIDS-related complex, respectively.”
The 22 May 1994 Awake! box on page 13 attributes to ‘The New England Journal of Medicine, issue of December 14, 1989’ the statement that ‘a single unit of blood may carry enough AIDS virus to cause up to 1.75 million infections’. That issue (vol. 321 no. 24) contains two papers reporting HIV titres in blood: this one and Coombs RW et al., ‘Plasma viremia in human immunodeficiency virus infection’, 321(24):1626-1631 (confirmed on PubMed, PMID 2511447). A tissue-culture-infective dose is a laboratory measure of how much virus is needed to infect cells in culture; neither paper discusses transfusion, units of blood, or the number of people who might be infected.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The New England Journal of Medicine, Quantitation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in the blood of infected persons
Note sur la fiabilité.The abstract and bibliographic record were retrieved through the NCBI E-utilities service on 19 September 2026 and read, and retrieved again independently by the auditor; the PubMed web page itself returns HTTP 203 and a cookie wall to automated clients and could not be opened directly. the quoted sentence is from the published abstract. The full text behind the paywall was not opened, and the Awake! box gives no author or page, so the box’s figure could not be traced to a specific sentence in either paper.
Notes.The figure in the Awake! box corresponds arithmetically to this paper: 3,500 tissue-culture-infective doses per millilitre multiplied by the roughly 500 millilitres in a unit of whole blood gives 1,750,000. That correspondence is an inference drawn here, not something either paper states; and the 3,500 figure is the mean plasma titre reported for patients who had AIDS, not a figure for donated blood.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-nejm-1989-ho
septembre 1986 · pp.152(3):337 · Spratt JS · Elsevier
“Blood transfusions and surgery for cancer”
The 22 May 1994 Awake! box on page 13 attributes to ‘Dr. John S. Spratt’ in ‘The American Journal of Surgery, issue of September 1986’ the sentence ‘The cancer surgeon may need to become a bloodless surgeon.’ An article by that author, with that title, in that journal and month does exist.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The American Journal of Surgery, Blood transfusions and surgery for cancer
Note sur la fiabilité.The bibliographic record was confirmed on 19 September 2026 through the NCBI E-utilities service: Spratt JS, ‘Blood transfusions and surgery for cancer’, Am J Surg 1986 Sep;152(3):337. The PubMed web page itself returns HTTP 203 and a cookie wall to automated clients, so it could not be opened directly. The text of the article was not opened, so the quoted sentence itself is not verified — only the citation.
Notes.The seven other quotations in the same box give no volume or page. Two of them name a person (Dr Charles Huggins and Dr Charles H. Baron) and five are attributed only to a journal or book title; none was traced.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-spratt-1986
The cover carries the title “Youths Who Put God First” over a montage of photographs of young people, with three figures in the foreground. Commentators frequently state that the cover shows twenty-six children and that all of them died refusing blood. We looked for support for that in the issue itself and did not find it: the contents page and the two articles do not identify the people pictured, do not give a count, and report outcomes only for the six people named above, half of whom the issue says were alive. We viewed a low-resolution scan of the cover hosted by a discovery site and could not reliably count the photographs from it.Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
L'affirmation largement reprise selon laquelle tous les jeunes représentés sur la couverture de 1994 seraient morts n'est pas étayée par le numéro lui-même, qui n'identifie que six personnes nommées et ne rapporte l'issue que pour celles-là, sans dire qui figure sur la couverture. Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.2 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.”
The contents page introduces the series ‘Youths Who Put God First’ on pages 3–15. It does not name or count the young people pictured on the cover.
Notes.The cover (a montage of photographs of young people beneath the title) is not reproduced on the Online Library; a low-resolution scan hosted by a discovery site was viewed but the number of people pictured could not be reliably counted from it.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g-1994-0522-contents
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · pp.3-8 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I just could not live with myself if I am given blood.”
The article, narrated by his father, describes Adrian Yeatts of Newfoundland, Canada, aged 14, diagnosed with a fast-growing abdominal lymphoma in March 1993 and subsequently leukaemia. Newfoundland’s Supreme Court (Justice Robert Wells) held in July 1993 that he was a mature minor whose refusal of blood would be respected. He was baptised in a hospital physiotherapy tank on 12 September 1993 and the article records that he died the next day. A boxed item describes a bloodless heart transplant for three-year-old the three-year-old in Ohio of Ohio in October 1993, reported a month later as doing well. The article also records the medical advice as the family reported it: Dr Jardine 'explained that a very aggressive chemotherapy program with blood transfusions was the only way Adrian could possibly live'; 'chemotherapy was started, without the transfusions'; and it closes by saying that he rejected transfusions 'that could conceivably have extended his present life'.
22 mai 1994 · pp.9-15 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“After a long, difficult night, at 6:30 a.m., September 22, 1993, Lenae fell asleep in death in the arms of her mother.”
The article profiles four young people: Lenae Martinez, 12, Fresno, California, leukaemia — recorded as having died on 22 September 1993; the New York seventeen-year-old, 17, New York City, inflammatory bowel disease — ‘Crystal never needed blood, and none was ever transfused’; Lisa Kosack, 12, Toronto, acute myeloid leukaemia — ‘She died peacefully at home, in the loving arms of her mother and father’; E.G., 17, Chicago, leukaemia — ‘Ernestine had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia.’ E.G. (par. 59) was transfused once under a trial-court order 'in spite of her vigorous protests'; the Illinois Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court then upheld her right to refuse (pars. 60-61), and the article records that she 'had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia' (par. 63).
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have ‘Power Beyond What Is Normal’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; names, ages, places and outcome sentences confirmed from the article text.
Notes.Together with the first article, the issue names six young people: three recorded as having died and three recorded as alive at the time of writing.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g-1994-0522-power-beyond-normal
La couverture porte le bandeau-titre du magazine, la ligne de date ‘May 22, 1994’ et, dans un bandeau occupant le tiers inférieur, le titre ‘Youths Who Put God First’ ; trois jeunes sont photographiés en couleur au premier plan, devant un mur de petites photos-portraits de jeunes imprimées en teinte pâle, dont certaines se chevauchent, sont coupées par le bord de la page ou masquées par le bandeau-titre et par les personnages du premier plan. Source: JWfacts.com, 19 septembre 2026
The cover carries the Awake! masthead with the date line ‘May 22, 1994’ and, in a bordered blue panel across the lower third, the title ‘Youths Who Put God First’ in yellow capitals. In front of a wall of small portrait photographs of young people, overlapping and printed in a pale washed-out tint, stand three young people photographed in full colour: a girl on the left, a boy in the centre and a girl on the right, all smiling at the camera. The background photographs are partly hidden by the masthead at the top and by the three foreground figures at the bottom, and some are cut off by the edge of the page.
No online copy located.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JWfacts.com, Scan of the cover of Awake!, 22 May 1994, on the page ‘Blood Transfusions’
Note sur la fiabilité.The image was downloaded and viewed on 19 September 2026 and enlarged for examination; the description is of what can be seen in that scan. It is a low-resolution third-party scan with no stated provenance, so it is not treated as a verified reproduction of the printed cover. No reliable count of the background photographs can be made from it: the rows overlap, are obscured and are cropped at the page edge. At least twenty background portraits are at least partly visible.
Notes.Recorded for location and description only. The site should describe the cover in words and, if it points anywhere at all, link rather than rehost.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-cover-scan-jwfacts
L'organisation ne publie aucune image de cette couverture : la page de JW.org consacrée à ce numéro affiche une image générique de remplacement, la Watchtower Online Library en donne le texte sans illustrations, et le fichier de publication officiel de ce numéro ne contient aucune image. Source: JW.org / Watchtower Online Library, 19 septembre 2026Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“cvr_placeholder.jpg”
The organisation publishes no image of this issue’s cover. The JW.org page for the 22 May 1994 Awake! renders a generic cover placeholder in place of a cover image; the Watchtower Online Library carries the text of the twelve articles with no illustrations, though it retains the printed issue’s picture and picture-credit lines for pages 16, 19, 21, 23, 26, 31 and 32; and the official publication file offered by the JW.org pub-media service (g_E_19940522.jwpub) contains a text-only database whose multimedia table is empty. No PDF or EPUB edition is offered for this issue.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW.org / Watchtower Online Library, Awake!, 22 May 1994 — the official digital editions
Note sur la fiabilité.The JW.org magazine page, the Watchtower Online Library issue listing and article pages, the pub-media response for pub=g and issue=19940522, and the publication database inside the official .jwpub file were each opened on 19 September 2026. The quoted string is the file name of the placeholder image served on the JW.org page.
22 mai 1994 · pp.1-32 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“He ‘Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth’ … Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal””
The issue runs to 32 pages and contains twelve items. The official publication file records the page range of each: Page Two (2); ‘He “Remembered His Creator in the Days of His Youth”’ (3-8); ‘Youths Who Have “Power Beyond What Is Normal”’ (9-15); ‘Alligators—Rare, White, and Blue-Eyed!’ (16-17); ‘What If I Fall For an Unbeliever?’ (18-20); ‘Is the Bible Irrelevant?’ (21); ‘Your Chop Your Signature’ (22-24); ‘Put Humor Into Your Life’ (25-27); ‘Watching the World’ (28-29); ‘From Our Readers’ (30); ‘Contaminated Blood Given to Hemophiliacs’ (31); ‘The “Godly Fear” District Convention Is At Hand’ (32). The two blood articles occupy pages 3-15, thirteen of the issue's thirty-two pages. Neither of them is headed ‘Youths Who Put God First’: that is the cover title. Inside the issue the phrase occurs only in the page 2 contents item, which reads ‘Youths Who Put God First 3-15’ (Watchtower Online Library document 101994360, par. 2; src-g-1994-0522-contents), and in the magazine’s own 1994 annual index.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Awake!, 22 May 1994 (complete issue; official publication file g_E_19940522.jwpub)
Note sur la fiabilité.The issue listing was opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, and the official publication file g_E_19940522.jwpub (linked from the JW.org pub-media service at https://cfp2.jw-cdn.org/a/044135e/2/o/g_E_19940522.jwpub) was downloaded and its publication database read directly; the twelve documents and their first and last page numbers are taken from that file. Both steps were repeated independently by the auditor on 19 September 2026: the twelve rows of the Document table and their FirstPageNumber and LastPageNumber values match, and the pub-media service offers this issue in JWPUB format only, with an empty pubImage entry.
Notes.The official publication file contains no multimedia records at all (the Multimedia, DocumentMultimedia and ExtractMultimedia tables are empty and the manifest lists no images), so the authorised digital edition of this issue carries no photographs or illustrations. The printed issue did carry pictures: the Watchtower Online Library text retains picture and picture-credit lines for pages 16, 19, 21, 23, 26, 31 and 32. There is no such line in either of the two blood articles.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-issue-contents-map
L'affirmation largement reprise selon laquelle la couverture montrerait vingt-six enfants morts après avoir refusé le sang ne peut être établie : le chiffre n'apparaît nulle part dans le numéro, le seul site ouvert pour cette fiche n'en donne aucune source, la seule image de couverture figurant sur l'un de ces sites est un dérivé recadré et non un scan, et les portraits d'arrière-plan du seul scan localisé ne peuvent pas être comptés de façon fiable, parce qu'ils se chevauchent et sont en partie masqués. Source: AvoidJW.org, 20 mars 2026 (unverified)Source: JWfacts.com, 19 septembre 2026Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
A representative statement of the widely repeated claim that the cover pictures twenty-six children who all died refusing blood. The page gives no source for the figure and none for the assertion that those pictured died.
Note de provenance et de vérification for AvoidJW.org, Jehovah’s Witnesses Change Blood Doctrine — What About the Losses?
Note sur la fiabilité.The page and its banner image were opened on 19 September 2026, and again independently by the auditor; the page carries the line ‘Published: March 20th, 2026’ and the phrase quoted above appears on it verbatim. The figure of twenty-six appears nowhere in the magazine, is not sourced on this page, and could not be confirmed from the only cover scan located; the image on the page is a derivative graphic and is not evidence of a count.
Provenance de la numérisation.Banner image hosted by AvoidJW.org. On inspection it is not a scan of the cover but a cropped, re-tinted derivative showing only the three foreground figures and a fragment of the background, with the masthead, the date line and the title panel removed. The copy consulted is hosted by a third party and its lawfulness is not established, so no link to it is published here.
Notes.Recorded so that the site can explain, and decline to repeat, the claim — not as evidence for it.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-cover-claim-avoidjw
The cover carries the Awake! masthead with the date line ‘May 22, 1994’ and, in a bordered blue panel across the lower third, the title ‘Youths Who Put God First’ in yellow capitals. In front of a wall of small portrait photographs of young people, overlapping and printed in a pale washed-out tint, stand three young people photographed in full colour: a girl on the left, a boy in the centre and a girl on the right, all smiling at the camera. The background photographs are partly hidden by the masthead at the top and by the three foreground figures at the bottom, and some are cut off by the edge of the page.
No online copy located.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JWfacts.com, Scan of the cover of Awake!, 22 May 1994, on the page ‘Blood Transfusions’
Note sur la fiabilité.The image was downloaded and viewed on 19 September 2026 and enlarged for examination; the description is of what can be seen in that scan. It is a low-resolution third-party scan with no stated provenance, so it is not treated as a verified reproduction of the printed cover. No reliable count of the background photographs can be made from it: the rows overlap, are obscured and are cropped at the page edge. At least twenty background portraits are at least partly visible.
Notes.Recorded for location and description only. The site should describe the cover in words and, if it points anywhere at all, link rather than rehost.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-cover-scan-jwfacts
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · p.2 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.”
The contents page introduces the series ‘Youths Who Put God First’ on pages 3–15. It does not name or count the young people pictured on the cover.
Notes.The cover (a montage of photographs of young people beneath the title) is not reproduced on the Online Library; a low-resolution scan hosted by a discovery site was viewed but the number of people pictured could not be reliably counted from it.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g-1994-0522-contents
Cela importe pour la même raison que tout le reste de ce site. Ce que documente le dossier est déjà assez grave : la revue de l’organisation elle-même a décrit des enfants mourant à cause du sang et a présenté cela comme le fait de placer Dieu en premier. En exagérer la portée serait inexact, et l’inexactitude coûte la confiance du lecteur.
Ce qui a suivi
Ce numéro n’a pas été un cas isolé, et il n’a pas été retiré.
L'organisation a publié des réactions de lecteurs à la série dans Réveillez-vous ! des 22 octobre et 8 décembre 1994, dont celle d'un jeune de dix-sept ans d'Allemagne qui écrivait : ‘Dying doesn’t scare me, but the thought of disregarding Jehovah’s laws does’, et celle d'un jeune de dix-huit ans du Nigeria qui ‘could not stop crying when I came to see that these faithful children died’. Source: Awake!, 8 décembre 1994Source: Awake!, 22 octobre 1994
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : Les lettres ont été choisies et imprimées par le magazine ; elles constituent le propre témoignage de l'organisation sur la manière dont elle entendait que la série soit lue et dont elle la comprenait.
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
8 décembre 1994 · p.30 · pars. 2-15 (‘Faithful Youths’) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I am 18 years old. I was thrilled and shaken when I read the articles yesterday. I could not stop crying when I came to see that these faithful children died. Their faith has made me ask myself whether I could, under such conditions, keep my integrity.”
Seven reader letters printed under the heading ‘Faithful Youths’, from the United States, Germany (two), Austria, Nigeria, Italy and Japan. Another, from a 17-year-old in Germany, reads: ‘I am 17 years old and have been afraid of finding myself in such a situation one day. Dying doesn’t scare me, but the thought of disregarding Jehovah’s laws does. It would be awful to give in under pressure. The article gave me much strength.’ A third says the writer afterwards read the booklet How Can Blood Save Your Life? and ‘now know[s] how to behave should I ever be in a similar situation’.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, From Our Readers
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.These are letters the organisation itself selected and published, and are evidence of how the series was received and of the use to which it was put.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-readers-1994-1208
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 octobre 1994 · p.30 · par. 13 (letter under the running head ‘Youths Resist Blood Transfusions’); signature at par. 14 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I am 12 years old, and I have just read the series “Youths Who Put God First.” (May 22, 1994) I was very impressed by the courage that these young Christian brothers and sisters showed, facing death with such confidence in Jehovah and in the resurrection. Their courage and faith in Jehovah made me weep with joy.”
The first published reader response to the series, signed ‘B. C. R., Spain’, printed under the heading ‘Youths Resist Blood Transfusions’ five months after the issue.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, From Our Readers
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
La série s'est poursuivie : La Tour de Garde du 1er juillet 1994 a publié le récit de Brunella Inconditi, quinze ans, de Montréal, et Réveillez-vous ! du 22 janvier 1995 a consacré cinq pages à Joshua Walker, quinze ans, du Nouveau-Brunswick, dont le refus a été confirmé par la Cour d'appel du Nouveau-Brunswick et dont la mort, le 4 octobre 1994, est rapportée dans la dernière ligne de l'article. Source: Awake!, 22 janvier 1995Source: The Watchtower, 1 juillet 1994Source: Watch Tower Publications Index 1986-2026, 2026
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L'article de 1995 présente l'issue comme un gain pour tous, citant un éditorial du Telegraph Journal selon lequel la décision était ‘a victory not just for Jehovah’s Witnesses, but for us all’, ainsi que le Canadian Medical Association Journal au sujet des lignes directrices qu'elle a fixées.
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 janvier 1995 · pp.11-15 · pars. 3-4, 39-40 · Awake! correspondent in Canada · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Joshua died October 4, 1994.”
Eight months after the ‘Youths Who Put God First’ issue, Awake! carried a five-page account of Joshua Walker, 15, of New Brunswick, who had acute myeloid leukaemia. It quotes Chief Justice W. L. Hoyt of the New Brunswick Court of Appeal (‘The evidence here is overwhelming that Joshua is sufficiently mature’), a Telegraph Journal editorial calling the decision ‘a victory not just for Jehovah’s Witnesses, but for us all’, and the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The article’s final line, standing on its own, records his death.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Joshua’s Faith—A Victory for Children’s Rights
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
Notes.The appeal is reported as Region 2 Hospital Corp. v. Walker (1994), 150 N.B.R. (2d) 366 (C.A.), a citation confirmed from the Supreme Court of Canada in A.C. v. Manitoba.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-walker-1995
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1 juillet 1994 · pp.29-31 · pars. 1-5 · As told by friends of Brunella Inconditi · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Two days before she expected to symbolize her dedication by water baptism, Brunella learned that she had leukemia.”
Six weeks after the Awake! series, The Watchtower carried a comparable account of Brunella Inconditi of Montreal, who learned she had leukaemia in July 1990 at the age of 15. The current Watch Tower index tags the article ‘(blood case)’.
Note de provenance et de vérification for The Watchtower, “I Have Observed the Faith”
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and the wording, page marker and paragraph confirmed against the article text.
The organisation’s current cumulative index, covering 1986 to 2026, lists these young people by name under Canada, each tagged ‘(blood case)’, together with ‘Inconditi, Brunella (blood case): w94 7/1 29-31’ and ‘Cadoreth, April: kr 162-164’. The index also supplies the page range of each account.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Watch Tower Publications Index 1986-2026, Canada (subheading ‘persons’)
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, the day after the announced change to the blood position; the entries and page ranges were read from the index page itself.
Notes.The index is the organisation’s own finding aid. Its continued listing of these accounts as ‘blood case’ entries is the clearest available evidence that the 1994 and 1995 articles remain part of the published corpus.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-wt-index-1986-2026-canada
L'index cumulatif actuel de l'organisation, l'Index des publications Watch Tower 1986-2026, mentionne toujours nommément Adrian Yeatts, Lisa Kosack, Joshua Walker et Brunella Inconditi, chacun assorti de la mention ‘(blood case)’ et de la pagination de l'article qui les concerne ; les articles de 1994 et de 1995 restent publiés sur la Watchtower Online Library. Source: Watch Tower Publications Index 1986-2026, 2026Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994Source: Awake!, 22 mai 1994
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
The organisation’s current cumulative index, covering 1986 to 2026, lists these young people by name under Canada, each tagged ‘(blood case)’, together with ‘Inconditi, Brunella (blood case): w94 7/1 29-31’ and ‘Cadoreth, April: kr 162-164’. The index also supplies the page range of each account.
Note de provenance et de vérification for Watch Tower Publications Index 1986-2026, Canada (subheading ‘persons’)
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, the day after the announced change to the blood position; the entries and page ranges were read from the index page itself.
Notes.The index is the organisation’s own finding aid. Its continued listing of these accounts as ‘blood case’ entries is the clearest available evidence that the 1994 and 1995 articles remain part of the published corpus.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g94d-wt-index-1986-2026-canada
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
22 mai 1994 · pp.3-8 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I just could not live with myself if I am given blood.”
The article, narrated by his father, describes Adrian Yeatts of Newfoundland, Canada, aged 14, diagnosed with a fast-growing abdominal lymphoma in March 1993 and subsequently leukaemia. Newfoundland’s Supreme Court (Justice Robert Wells) held in July 1993 that he was a mature minor whose refusal of blood would be respected. He was baptised in a hospital physiotherapy tank on 12 September 1993 and the article records that he died the next day. A boxed item describes a bloodless heart transplant for three-year-old the three-year-old in Ohio of Ohio in October 1993, reported a month later as doing well. The article also records the medical advice as the family reported it: Dr Jardine 'explained that a very aggressive chemotherapy program with blood transfusions was the only way Adrian could possibly live'; 'chemotherapy was started, without the transfusions'; and it closes by saying that he rejected transfusions 'that could conceivably have extended his present life'.
22 mai 1994 · pp.9-15 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“After a long, difficult night, at 6:30 a.m., September 22, 1993, Lenae fell asleep in death in the arms of her mother.”
The article profiles four young people: Lenae Martinez, 12, Fresno, California, leukaemia — recorded as having died on 22 September 1993; the New York seventeen-year-old, 17, New York City, inflammatory bowel disease — ‘Crystal never needed blood, and none was ever transfused’; Lisa Kosack, 12, Toronto, acute myeloid leukaemia — ‘She died peacefully at home, in the loving arms of her mother and father’; E.G., 17, Chicago, leukaemia — ‘Ernestine had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia.’ E.G. (par. 59) was transfused once under a trial-court order 'in spite of her vigorous protests'; the Illinois Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court then upheld her right to refuse (pars. 60-61), and the article records that she 'had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia' (par. 63).
Note de provenance et de vérification for Awake!, Youths Who Have ‘Power Beyond What Is Normal’
Note sur la fiabilité.Opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; names, ages, places and outcome sentences confirmed from the article text.
Notes.Together with the first article, the issue names six young people: three recorded as having died and three recorded as alive at the time of writing.
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-g-1994-0522-power-beyond-normal
La mise à jour du Collège central du 18 septembre 2026, qui a fait des quatre composants principaux du sang une décision personnelle, ne fait aucune mention de quiconque est mort sous la position antérieure, ni des articles de 1994 ou de 1995 ; elle ne renvoie au passé que pour décrire la manière dont l’organisation appliquait elle-même ce principe auparavant, ainsi que sa 2026 Governing Body Update #2 ; son fichier officiel de sous-titres en anglais ne contient aucune occurrence de « 1994 », « young » ou « minor ». Source: JW Broadcasting, 18 septembre 2026Source: JW.org (Questions From Readers), 18 septembre 2026
Position de l’organisation ou explication ultérieure : L’article qui l’accompagne présente le changement comme faisant suite à un « further prayerful consideration » et indique que le Collège central « is not authorized to “go beyond the things that are written” ».
Afficher les preuves (2 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
18 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“After further prayerful consideration, the Governing Body has decided that this same principle applies to the four primary components of whole blood —that’s red cells, white cells, plasma, and platelets— that are derived from another person’s blood. Therefore, each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care.”
The update announcing the change to the position on blood components. Read in full, the caption file contains no reference to anyone who died under the previous position, no reference to the 1994 or 1995 articles, and no occurrence of ‘1994’, ‘young’ or ‘minor’. The single occurrence of ‘children’ is in the phrase ‘to take the lives of unborn children’; the single occurrence of ‘previous’ concerns a convention announcement.
Note de provenance et de vérification for JW Broadcasting, 2026 Governing Body Update #6 (official English subtitle file)
Note sur la fiabilité.The official caption file was downloaded again on 19 September 2026 by the auditor, stripped of timestamps and read in full (about 10,000 characters); the quotation above is the verbatim caption wording. The wording previously recorded here (‘Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t accept transfusions of whole blood…’) appears neither in this caption file nor on the JW.org news page, and was removed in the independent audit.
Provenance de la numérisation.Official English closed-caption file served by the organisation’s own content delivery network (cfp2.jw-cdn.org) for media item docid-1112024060.
18 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“After further prayerful consideration, the Governing Body has decided that this same principle applies to the four primary components of whole blood—red cells, white cells, plasma, and platelets—that are derived from another person’s blood. Therefore, each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care.”
The article also states that Witnesses ‘do not accept transfusions of whole blood, nor do we donate blood that would be used as a whole blood transfusion to another person’, that each Christian must decide whether to donate blood ‘for the clearly expressed purpose of providing components or fractions’, and that it reflects what was shared in the 2026 Governing Body Update #6 and will appear in a future issue of The Watchtower.
Notes.The article carries the note: ‘This article reflects what was shared in the 2026 Governing Body Update #6 and will appear in a future issue of The Watchtower.’ It also states the Governing Body ‘is not authorized to “go beyond the things that are written”’ (1 Corinthians 4:6).
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-jw-2026-0918-qfr-respect-life
As of 19 September 2026, JW.org’s FAQ on blood transfusions describes the statement that ‘many Witnesses, including children, die each year as a result of refusing blood transfusions’ as a myth, says such patients ‘usually fare as well as or better than those who do accept transfusions’, citing cardiac-surgery and blood-management literature in footnotes, and adds that ‘no one can say for certain that a patient will die because of refusing blood or will live because of accepting it’.Source: JW.org Frequently Asked Questions, 19 septembre 2026The 1994 issue, by contrast, records three deaths among six named children and frames the deaths of youths as continuing. Both statements are the organisation’s. Readers can weigh them together.
Myth: Many Witnesses, including children, die each year as a result of refusing blood transfusions. Fact: This statement is totally unfounded. Surgeons regularly perform such complex procedures as heart operations, orthopedic surgery, and organ transplants without the use of blood transfusions. Patients, including children, who do not receive transfusions usually fare as well as or better than those who do accept transfusions. In any case, no one can say for certain that a patient will die because of refusing blood or will live because of accepting it.
Ce que les changements de 2026 modifient, et ce qu’ils ne modifient pas
In 1994 the organisation’s published position was the one in the 1990 brochure: Witnesses ‘do not accept transfusions of whole blood, red cells, white cells, platelets, or blood plasma’.Source: How Can Blood Save Your Life? (brochure), 1990The articles say the young people refused ‘blood’ and ‘blood products’ without naming components. On 18 September 2026, red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma from another person became personal decisions.Source: JW.org (Questions From Readers), 18 septembre 2026
Les composants que les publications officielles ont classés comme inacceptables de 1990 jusqu’en septembre 2026 (globules rouges, globules blancs, plaquettes et plasma) peuvent désormais être acceptés au titre d’une décision personnelle. Pour un patient Témoin aujourd’hui, les options qui peuvent être choisies sans conséquence au sein de la congrégation sont donc sensiblement différentes de celles dont disposaient les jeunes gens décrits en 1994 et en 2019. Source: How Can Blood Save Your Life? (brochure), 1990Source: The Watchtower, 15 octobre 2000Source: JW.org (Questions From Readers), 18 septembre 2026
Afficher les preuves (3 sources)
Publication primaire des Témoins de JéhovahVérifié
1990 · footnote to par. 12 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Witnesses do not accept transfusions of whole blood, red cells, white cells, platelets, or blood plasma.”
The footnote continues by referring readers to The Watchtower of 1 June 1990, pages 30–31, for minor fractions such as immune globulin. The section describes non-blood volume expanders (saline, dextran, Haemaccel, lactated Ringer’s solution, hetastarch) as acceptable.
Note de provenance et de vérification for How Can Blood Save Your Life? (brochure), Quality Alternatives to Transfusion
Note sur la fiabilité.Text opened on JW.org on 19 September 2026 and the footnote wording confirmed. The 1990 publication year is the brochure’s own imprint date as catalogued by the Watchtower Online Library (publication code hb); the JW.org page does not display a year.
15 octobre 2000 · pp.30-31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Hence, we do not donate blood, nor do we store for transfusion our blood that should be ‘poured out.’ That practice conflicts with God’s law.”
The question asked was: ‘In the light of Bible commands about the proper use of blood, how do Jehovah’s Witnesses view medical procedures using one’s own blood?’ The article said that depositing one’s own blood weeks before surgery ‘directly contradicts’ Leviticus and Deuteronomy, while procedures in which the patient’s blood stays in a continuous circuit (haemodilution, cell salvage, heart-lung machines, dialysis) were left for each Christian to decide.
18 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“After further prayerful consideration, the Governing Body has decided that this same principle applies to the four primary components of whole blood—red cells, white cells, plasma, and platelets—that are derived from another person’s blood. Therefore, each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care.”
The article also states that Witnesses ‘do not accept transfusions of whole blood, nor do we donate blood that would be used as a whole blood transfusion to another person’, that each Christian must decide whether to donate blood ‘for the clearly expressed purpose of providing components or fractions’, and that it reflects what was shared in the 2026 Governing Body Update #6 and will appear in a future issue of The Watchtower.
Notes.The article carries the note: ‘This article reflects what was shared in the 2026 Governing Body Update #6 and will appear in a future issue of The Watchtower.’ It also states the Governing Body ‘is not authorized to “go beyond the things that are written”’ (1 Corinthians 4:6).
Date de consultation. 19 septembre 2026 · Identifiant de la source.src-jw-2026-0918-qfr-respect-life
Nous ne disons pas que l’un ou l’autre des jeunes nommés ici aurait survécu sous les règles de 2026. Leur situation médicale n’est pas entièrement documentée, et l’issue d’une maladie grave n’est jamais garantie. Ce que l’on peut dire est plus étroit et plus ferme : une catégorie de traitements qui était interdite, sous peine de conséquences au sein de la congrégation, à l’époque où ils étaient malades relève désormais, selon la déclaration de l’organisation elle-même, d’une décision dans laquelle la congrégation « n’interviendra pas ».
Comment le vérifier par vous-même
Rien sur cette page ne vous demande de nous croire sur parole. Le numéro se trouve sur le site de l’organisation elle-même, et voici la marche à suivre pour le lire par vous-même, en entier et dans son contexte.
Ouvrez la Bibliothèque en ligne Watchtower sur wol.jw.org. C’est la bibliothèque de l’organisation elle-même, et non une copie détenue par un tiers. Le lien mène directement au sommaire du Réveillez-vous ! du 22 mai 1994.
Lisez d’abord le sommaire. La phrase citée en haut de cette page s’y trouve, dans la présentation que le numéro fait de lui-même.
Ouvrez les deux articles principaux, « They Remembered Their Creator » et « Youths Who Have ‘Power Beyond What Is Normal’ », pages 3 à 15. Chaque citation de cette page provient de l’un d’eux, et chaque référence ci-dessous renvoie à l’article exact.
Comparez-le avec l’article actuel. La déclaration de l’organisation du 18 septembre 2026 se trouve elle aussi sur son propre site, et elle est liée depuis chaque page de cette section.
Si une citation figurant ici ne correspond pas à ce que vous lisez, dites-le-nous et nous la corrigerons publiquement. C’est à cela que sert la procédure de correction, et le journal des corrections est ouvert.
Citer ou partager cette page. L’adresse stable est https://jwtruth.org/fr/blood/youths-who-put-god-first/. Chaque affirmation qu’elle contient a son propre lien permanent, et la liste complète des sources ci-dessous s’imprime avec ses références visibles.
Sources citées sur cette page
Show all 50 sources, in date order
Each opens a full record with links, provenance and a confidence note.
23 septembre 1987 · pp.161 Ill. App. 3d 765 · White J (Freeman J concurring; McNamara PJ dissenting) · Illinois Appellate Court
“The court found probable cause to believe that appellant was medically neglected and appointed the hospital official temporary custodian with power to consent to all medical treatment. Appellant began receiving transfusions pursuant to this ruling.”
18 novembre 1989 · pp.133 Ill. 2d 98 · Ryan J · Illinois Supreme Court
“If the evidence is clear and convincing that the minor is mature enough to appreciate the consequences of her actions, and that the minor is mature enough to exercise the judgment of an adult, then the mature minor doctrine affords her the common law right to consent to or refuse medical treatment.”
18 novembre 1989 · pp.133 Ill. 2d 98 · Ward J · Illinois Supreme Court
“The safeguarding of health and the preservation of life are obviously different conditions from one in which a minor will be held to have a common law right, as the majority puts it, to refuse medical treatment and sometimes in effect take his own life.”
14 décembre 1989 · pp.321(24):1621-1625 · Ho DD, Moudgil T, Alam M · Massachusetts Medical Society
“The mean titers in plasma were 30, 3500, and 3200 tissue-culture-infective doses (TCID) per milliliter for patients with asymptomatic infection, the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and the AIDS-related complex, respectively.”
22 mai 1994 · p.2 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“In former times thousands of youths died for putting God first. They are still doing it, only today the drama is played out in hospitals and courtrooms, with blood transfusions the issue.”
22 mai 1994 · p.4 · pars. 11-14 (Watchtower Online Library paragraph ids p11-p14) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Dr. Jardine asked, “Do you realize that you could die if you don’t take a blood transfusion?” “Yes.” “And you’re willing to do that?” “If that’s what it takes.””
22 mai 1994 · pp.4-5 · par. 16 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Mom, it’s not a good trade. To disobey God and extend my life for a few years now and then because of my disobedience to God lose out on a resurrection and living forever in his paradise earth—that’s just not smart!”
22 mai 1994 · p.5 · par. 17 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The biopsy was performed on March 18. It showed that Adrian had a large lymphoma tumor. A subsequent bone marrow biopsy confirmed the fear that he had developed leukemia.”
22 mai 1994 · p.6 · par. 24 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I won’t agree to blood or let it be used; no way. I know I could die if no blood is used. But that is my decision. No one talked me into that. … The way I feel is that if I’m given any blood that will be like raping me, molesting my body. … Please respect me and my wishes.”
22 mai 1994 · p.6 · pars. 26-27 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I was alert to the consideration whether his parents [had imposed] upon him their opposition to blood use in the medical treatment of him. … I was satisfied [that] he exercised a mind of his own in expressing his wish for medical treatment absent blood.”
22 mai 1994 · pp.6-8 · pars. 29-37 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“For the following reasons, the applications of the Director of Child Welfare are dismissed; the child is not in need of protection; the use of blood or blood products for the purposes of blood transfusion or injection have not been demonstrated to be essential, and in the particular circumstances of this case, could be harmful.”
22 mai 1994 · p.8 · par. 42 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“So the nurses kindly arranged for him to use one of the stainless steel tanks in the physiotherapy room. He was baptized there September 12; he died the next day, September 13.”
22 mai 1994 · p.8 · par. 45 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“By rejecting blood transfusions that could conceivably have extended his present life, Adrian Yeatts showed himself to be one of the many young people who put God first.”
22 mai 1994 · p.10 · pars. 12-17 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
““But blood transfusions will prolong your life. If you refuse blood, you will die in a few days.” “If I take blood,” Lenae asked, “how long will that prolong my life?” “About three to six months,” they answered.”
22 mai 1994 · p.10 · par. 18 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“This committee, made up of doctors and other health-care professionals, along with a professor of ethics from Fresno State University, made the decision to allow Lenae to make her own decisions with regard to her medical treatment. They considered Lenae a mature minor. No court order was sought.”
22 mai 1994 · p.10 · pars. 19-20 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“After a long, difficult night, at 6:30 a.m., September 22, 1993, Lenae fell asleep in death in the arms of her mother. … There were 482 who attended the memorial service, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, who had been impressed by Lenae’s faith and integrity.”
22 mai 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.”
22 mai 1994 · p.11 · pars. 25-26 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Despite her attorney’s repeated requests at the hearing, Crystal was denied the opportunity to speak for herself before the court to demonstrate her decision-making ability. … After the visit the trial judge said that Crystal was “obviously very intelligent” and “very articulate” and explained that Crystal “certainly was sound in mind” and “capable of expressing herself fully.””
22 mai 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.”
22 mai 1994 · p.12 · par. 32 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“At midnight a nurse came in and said: ‘I have to give you some blood.’ I cried out: ‘I can’t take blood because I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses! I hope you know that! I hope you know that!’ ‘Well, yes, I do,’ she said, and immediately pulled out my IV and shoved in the blood. I was crying and becoming hysterical.”
22 mai 1994 · pp.13-14 · pars. 35-44 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
““Do you want to die?” “No, I don’t think anybody wants to die, but if I do die I’m not going to be scared, because I know that I have the hope of everlasting life in a paradise on earth.””
22 mai 1994 · p.14 · pars. 46-51 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I must find that she has been discriminated against on the basis of her religion and her age pursuant to s. 15(1). In these circumstances, upon being given a blood transfusion, her right to the security of her person pursuant to s. 7 was infringed.”
22 mai 1994 · p.14 · par. 52 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Lisa did, indeed, fight her disease with dignity and peace of mind. She died peacefully at home, in the loving arms of her mother and father. In so doing she joined the ranks of many other youthful Witnesses of Jehovah who put God first.”
22 mai 1994 · p.15 · par. 59 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The court found that Ernestine was a mature 17-year-old, able to make informed medical decisions; yet, amazingly, the court granted an order allowing blood transfusions. At the hospital two doctors were standing by, transfusion equipment set up, and as soon as the court’s decision came in, the transfusion was forcibly given to Ernestine in spite of her vigorous protests.”
22 mai 1994 · p.15 · pars. 60-62 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“If the evidence is clear and convincing that the minor is mature enough to appreciate the consequences of her actions, and that the minor is mature enough to exercise the judgment of an adult, then the mature minor doctrine affords her the common law right to consent to or refuse medical treatment.”
22 mai 1994 · p.15 · par. 63 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“Ernestine had no further transfusions, and she did not die from her leukemia. Ernestine stood firm and put God first, like the other young people mentioned previously. Each one received “power beyond what is normal.””
22 mai 1994 · p.13 · pars. 64-73 (box on page 13, ‘Dangers of Blood Transfusion’) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“The New England Journal of Medicine, issue of December 14, 1989, reported that a single unit of blood may carry enough AIDS virus to cause up to 1.75 million infections!”
22 mai 1994 · p.31 · pars. 1-6 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“BLOOD has become a two-billion-dollar-a-year business. The pursuit of profits from it has resulted in a gigantic tragedy in France. HIV-contaminated blood caused the death of 250 hemophiliacs in AIDS-related illnesses, with hundreds more infected.”
22 octobre 1994 · p.30 · par. 13 (letter under the running head ‘Youths Resist Blood Transfusions’); signature at par. 14 · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I am 12 years old, and I have just read the series “Youths Who Put God First.” (May 22, 1994) I was very impressed by the courage that these young Christian brothers and sisters showed, facing death with such confidence in Jehovah and in the resurrection. Their courage and faith in Jehovah made me weep with joy.”
8 décembre 1994 · p.30 · pars. 2-15 (‘Faithful Youths’) · Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
“I am 18 years old. I was thrilled and shaken when I read the articles yesterday. I could not stop crying when I came to see that these faithful children died. Their faith has made me ask myself whether I could, under such conditions, keep my integrity.”
26 juin 2009 · pp.[2009] 2 S.C.R. 181 at 221-222 · paras. 62-63 (and para. 128 per McLachlin CJ) · Abella J · Supreme Court of Canada
“In Re L.D.K. (1985), 48 R.F.L. (2d) 164 (Ont. Prov. Ct. (Fam. Div.)), for example, the patient was a 12-year-old girl suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia. … In Re A.Y. (1993), 111 Nfld. & P.E.I.R. 91 (Nfld. S.C.), the court was faced with an application from the Director of Child Welfare to impose treatment on a 15-year-old Jehovah’s Witness who had cancer.”
18 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“After further prayerful consideration, the Governing Body has decided that this same principle applies to the four primary components of whole blood —that’s red cells, white cells, plasma, and platelets— that are derived from another person’s blood. Therefore, each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care.”
18 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“After further prayerful consideration, the Governing Body has decided that this same principle applies to the four primary components of whole blood—red cells, white cells, plasma, and platelets—that are derived from another person’s blood. Therefore, each Christian must make his own personal decision about the use of these four primary components in all medical and surgical care.”
19 septembre 2026 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Myth: Many Witnesses, including children, die each year as a result of refusing blood transfusions. Fact: This statement is totally unfounded. Surgeons regularly perform such complex procedures as heart operations, orthopedic surgery, and organ transplants without the use of blood transfusions. Patients, including children, who do not receive transfusions usually fare as well as or better than those who do accept transfusions. In any case, no one can say for certain that a patient will die because of refusing blood or will live because of accepting it.”
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