It's not insane that progress is being made -- that's pretty sensible (because more guinea pigs = more data, and in normal circumstances patients don't voluntee

It's not insane that progress is being made -- that's pretty sensible (because more guinea pigs = more data, and in normal circumstances patients don't volunteer for more dangerous paths). Deciding to be the guinea pigs is... well, not insane (people simply don't behave logically much at all, for religious as well as non-religious reasons), but sure, somewhat foolish. In this case, JWs are presenting themselves as the control group for experimenting with blood transfusions... in a "study" that would be utterly unethical. Imagine a doctor that refused a blood transfusion that would normally be called for in a serious surgery, because the patient was part of a study and fell into the "no transfusions even in dire need" group. A randomized study like that is (still) impossible and unethical, but because we have this group of people who place themselves onto the higher-risk path, doctors can test out the actual boundaries of where transfusions are needed -- and indeed, seriously advance the science. The Jehovah's Witnesses are at higher risk, and more of them will die because of this decision, but we're getting quite useful data in the meantime. You mentioned the Army -- medicine is also advanced by the normally-unethical medical approaches to medicine that are required by battlefield medicine. There's some overlap with the real requirements there, and the self-imposed requirement of JWs refusing transfusions that actually are available -- so certainly they'd be interested. Now we just need a new L Ron Hubbard to invent a religion that requires adherents to go all the way -- and always take the most-data-rich path through medical treatment -- then we'll be making progress in leaps & bounds (though of course more guinea pigs will die along the way).