Bombshell BBC Article Covers Blood Policy Change Death Story

BBC News has published a bombshell article about the Jehovah's Witnesses blood change. Its headline says a man refused life-saving treatment because of his religion, and that the rules changed just days later. By then it was too late, because he had already died. His name was Isaac Valdez. He was 26 years old and one of Jehovah's Witnesses. He died on August 26th. Only 23 days later, about three weeks, the Governing Body announced that the treatment he refused was now a personal decision. He could have accepted it.

This is exactly the kind of outlet I hoped would cover the blood change. In my opinion, it's also the kind of story Watchtower had been bracing for. In the 11 days before the September 18th change, the organization spent a lot of time telling Jehovah's Witnesses how to react to stories exactly like this one. The BBC then sat down with Watchtower's international spokesperson and asked the two questions everyone should be asking, especially Jehovah's Witnesses. Why did this take so long to change? And will you apologize to the people who were hurt by the old position? His answers sounded rehearsed, as if they knew this day was coming.

Who Isaac Valdez Was

Isaac's story deserves to be spread far and wide. According to the BBC, in August of this year he had an epileptic seizure in his local library. He hit his head on the ground so hard that it caused a brain hemorrhage. He carried a no-blood card, and because of that, a procedure normally used to drain fluid from the brain didn't happen.

Isaac then regained consciousness. He was even able to talk again, and he confirmed that he stood by the no-blood beliefs Watchtower had taught him. Then he slipped into a coma. A neurosurgeon told his family that the only way to save his life was an emergency operation, and that operation needed a transfusion. His family did what Isaac had said he wanted. He died on August 26th, when his life support was turned off.

His obituary shows what kind of Jehovah's Witness he was. He was baptized at 14. He was a pioneer and went to Pioneer Service School in 2019. He was a ministerial servant until his health no longer allowed it. He lived with epilepsy and a visual impairment and still worked for the congregation. His twin brother, Jacob, told the BBC that Isaac was an intelligent man who loved volunteering and helping the elderly.

His memorial was held at a Kingdom Hall in Waxahachie, Texas, on Saturday, September 12th. Six days later, the Governing Body released Update No. 6, which reversed its blood position.

In my coverage of the November JW Broadcast, I asked you to imagine a parent whose child died refusing a blood transfusion the day before the policy changed. The BBC article hadn't been published when I recorded that, so I treated it as a hypothetical. It wasn't. Isaac's family lived through something very close to what I described. The gap was 23 days instead of one.

This wasn't some fringe individual. Isaac was a young man who did everything Watchtower taught him was right, all the way to the end. That's exactly why a story like his is the one Watchtower can least afford to see published by the BBC.

The Deepfake Warning 11 Days Before the Reversal

I covered the next two events back in September, but they look very different now.

On September 7th, 11 days before the blood policy reversal, the monthly broadcast featured Governing Body member Kenneth Cook warning Jehovah's Witnesses about what he called misinformation. He said opposers can use it to weaken or destroy our faith. Then they played a fake AI video of him announcing that the Governing Body had decided to adjust the preaching work and wasn't in a position to explain why. He told the audience that a message that abrupt would have made a faithful Christian question whether what he was saying was true, "and rightly so."

Eleven days later, a real announcement came from the Governing Body that was every bit as abrupt as the one he described.

On JW Talk, a forum only for active Jehovah's Witnesses, people said they thought it was a deepfake at first. Even one of the forum's moderators wrote:

I was trying to see if this was AI too.

One believer said out loud what I think was going on. They wrote that the deepfake was there:

to prepare us for shocking announcements and to trust them immediately when released through official channels.

That poster meant it as a good thing. But look at what it describes: an organization prepping its members to accept a shock without questioning it.

"Reject Apostate Teachings": The September 8th Morning Worship

The next day, September 8th, a morning worship talk was released called "Reject Apostate Teachings." The speaker was Paul Gillies. He told Witnesses that the media loves the controversy created by what he called the "sensational and often distorted claims" of apostates. He said some people get very upset and angry because they believe those lies, and he told them to refuse to watch any TV program that features apostates.

I don't know when that talk was recorded, and I don't know if Gillies knew what was coming. But look at what Jehovah's Witnesses had been given in the 11 days before Watchtower's biggest policy reversal in 80 years. If an announcement seems abrupt, maybe it's fake. If the media is talking about it, that's just apostates. If some people get angry, it's only because they believed lies. And don't watch anything those people have to say.

September 18th: The Official Explanation

Then came September 18th, a date that will live in infamy in the history of Watchtower and Jehovah's Witnesses. The Governing Body released the official update with its official explanation. It said Witnesses had understood Acts 15 to mean no whole blood, and then said:

This position has protected Jehovah's people spiritually and physically.

The four components, however, became a personal decision, because, they said, they are not authorized to go beyond the things that are written.

Think about the order of events. By the time the announcement was made on September 18th, every Jehovah's Witness had already been given the framing. Distrust the media. Dismiss any anger. Remember that the policy protected people in the past. What Watchtower didn't have was a way to stop the story from being published. That brings us to the BBC.

Paul Gillies Faces the BBC's Questions

The BBC interviewed Paul Gillies, the same man who gave the September 8th morning worship talk. He is Watchtower's international spokesperson. The interview took place at the Witnesses' UK headquarters, which the BBC described as a complex on 85 acres in Essex where hundreds of volunteers live and work without pay.

The BBC said the change came after years of pressure from both inside and outside the religion. Gillies tells it differently. He told them the change is simply an application of Bible principles to modern medicine, and that the Governing Body felt it was its duty to avoid scriptural overreach.

The BBC pushed back. The rule goes back to 1945, it noted, and transfusions aren't mentioned in the Bible at all. So wasn't the ban always an overreach? Most transfusions also haven't used whole blood for a very long time. Patients got components. So what Witnesses were dying over was mostly the very thing they're now allowed to accept.

"Why Did It Take So Long?"

The BBC asked Gillies the first of the two questions: why did it take so long? Here is part of his answer as the BBC reports it:

Well, I guess because it takes time.

He also said it doesn't mean some magic change has taken place.

Jacob Valdez Asked for an Apology

Then came the question Isaac's twin brother wanted answered. Jacob Valdez was raised a Jehovah's Witness but had left before his brother died. After the blood policy was reversed, he texted people in Isaac's congregation. The article describes the texts as full of angst and painful to read. He asked them to think about the part they had played in encouraging so many people to give their lives for something that was clearly never God's will.

Most of them didn't respond. But according to the BBC, one elder did. He said he couldn't understand why Jacob was so angry and fixated on the policy shift, even though Jacob's brother had just died because he accepted the former belief.

Stop and think about that. The elder couldn't understand why he was angry. Remember what Witnesses had just been taught about people who get angry.

Jacob told the BBC exactly what he wanted from Watchtower: a straight-up apology, not a dismissive, deflecting answer. So the BBC asked Gillies about an apology. According to the BBC, he deflected calls for one by claiming that many lives had actually been saved by the former policy, because faithful Witnesses hadn't been exposed to blood contamination scandals.

Remember what Geoffrey Jackson said in the update announcing the reversal:

This position has protected Jehovah's people spiritually and physically.

That's why I believed this exact scenario was coming and that Watchtower was preparing for it. When Watchtower is asked about the people who died, it doesn't talk about them. It talks about the people it claims the old policy saved.

How Many Witnesses Died Refusing Blood?

Watchtower has never given a number for the Witnesses who died refusing blood. Why would it? It would make the organization look terrible.

The BBC did cite one estimate from a 2016 medical journal: around 1,100 Witnesses a year die from refusing blood. I can't verify that figure, and I don't know how it was calculated. The BBC itself says it's very difficult to know. The reason is that when someone refuses a procedure, the refusal isn't recorded as the cause of death, so we can't be sure.

The Same Man, the Same Script

Gillies is the international spokesperson, so it makes sense that Watchtower sent him to talk to the BBC. But think about who was in that chair. Just 10 days before the reversal, Gillies was telling Jehovah's Witnesses that some people get angry because they believe lies told about Watchtower, and that the media gives apostates a platform. Then a man who had just buried his twin got angry, and rightly so. The BBC came knocking at Watchtower's door, and Gillies gave the same line the update had already handed every Jehovah's Witness.

I can't prove they planned it that way. But the timing is incredibly suspicious, which is why I'm laying out exactly what Witnesses were given in advance, and when.

Why This Story Should Panic Watchtower

Watchtower cannot control an outlet as influential and widely read as the BBC. It can tell Witnesses not to listen to apostates or read the media. But even if Jehovah's Witnesses obey the Governing Body and never read this article, others will. This isn't a small-time ex-JW outlet or a YouTube channel. This is BBC News. Their non-Witness family, their co-workers, the people they meet at the door, and the people who walk up to the literature cart are going to see it. Under a Reddit post about the article, one person said they hope people bring it up when the Witnesses knock on their doors. Watchtower can't control that. One way or another, a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses are going to hear about this.

The People Still Inside Who Feel It Most

The people who feel this most are inside the religion right now. The BBC spoke with Elisha Cummings in Trinidad and Tobago. An elder had advised her not to donate blood to her aunt, who needed it, and her aunt died. Her marriage ended over a transfusion her husband had received as a child. She told the BBC:

How many houses did I go to trying to convince people about the blood doctrine?

She's still a Jehovah's Witness. She's afraid of losing her community if she leaves, and she doesn't want to be shunned. She says that since the change, she has not been herself. Who could blame her?

The Other Side, and What It Doesn't Answer

As a good news outlet should, the BBC also got the other side. It spoke with Alex Ball in West Sussex. In 2012 he was told he wouldn't survive chemotherapy without a transfusion. He found an alternative treatment, it worked, he's fine, and he says he'd make the same decision today.

Gillies made a similar point in the interview. He said some Witnesses would still turn down a transfusion under the new rule, and some might have done so even if the change had come years ago. That is borne out: some people on JW Talk say they're not changing their stance.

Gillies also told the BBC that families who have lost someone deserve to be heard compassionately. But being heard isn't what Jacob asked for. He asked for an apology.

When the BBC asked whether people who had left over blood could come back, Gillies said they would be warmly welcomed and could speak with the elders. So the people who took blood that is now allowed can come back and talk to the elders about it. The organization that told them they were wrong isn't going to them to apologize or invite them back.

Why Watchtower Won't Apologize

No Jehovah's Witness should expect an apology from Watchtower, no matter how much damage was done. In January 2024, Governing Body member Jeffrey Winder said:

We are not embarrassed about adjustments that are made, nor is an apology needed for not getting it exactly right previously.

An apology for the blood doctrine would mean admitting what those 81 years cost Jehovah's Witnesses, including the estimated 1,100 people a year who die because of it. None of the messaging Watchtower sent its members in September touched that. There was no way they were going near it.

Isaac's Family Hopes the Story Spreads

On Reddit, a person who says she is Isaac's older sister wrote that reaching the BBC was huge for the family, and that the family hopes it can reach a lot more people. I hope it does too.

Isaac woke up after that seizure and told everyone around him that he stood by what Watchtower had taught him as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. The men who taught him spent September telling their members how not to listen to stories like his. They never had an answer for his brother, and they never gave him an apology.

To every current Jehovah's Witness grieving a loved one who died under the old blood policy: my heart and my prayers are with you, and I am so sorry for what you've been through and for your loss. Watchtower should be held accountable. If more coverage like this keeps coming, maybe one day it will be.