FINAL

 

 

    The sound of Dennis’s weak breath and beating heart monitor filled the sterile four walls. His 320 square foot hospital room had not only become his new home, but also his deathbed. The room was surrounded by individuals holding hands, some with tears in their eyes, others with their heads bowed to pray. Dennis’s adopted mother, his aunt, stood next to him holding his hand. 14-year-old Dennis had more people praying for him than he could imagine, and they were all there not just supporting but encouraging his decision to die.

    Dennis Lindberg was born in 1993 into an unfortunate set of circumstances in Idaho where he would spend the first nine years of his life: his parents, Rachel and “Big Dennis,”  were poor, occasionally homeless, and addicted to meth. As his parents dragged him from motel to motel, Dennis fell into a rough crowd in his childhood years. It was easy to find vagrants hanging around, and Dennis’s days were filled with self entertainment and an attempt to ignore his parents’ drug needles in the toilet. Dennis knew his parents weren’t able to give up bags of meth for sandwich bags or needles for pencils, and he feared he would end up just like them.

    This all changed when his aunt, Dianna, took custody of him at the age of nine. His new life in Mount Vernon, Washington, was full of excitement, support, and, most importantly, safety. A dedicated student, he became a classroom favorite of his teachers and even started a club for new students like himself to make friends. At 12, Dennis wrote a moving essay that was shared by a local newspaper, along with an interview with Dennis himself.

    Dennis’s parents and Dianna believed Dennis’s living arrangements with his aunt in Washington to be temporary, in hopes that Rachel and Big Dennis would become stable enough to finish raising their son. “Can I call you mom?” Dennis would ask his aunt, to which Dianna always gently said no, and, when Dennis tried to rebut her, she reminded him he already had a mother: Rachel.

Dianna had two other daughters and a fierce devotion to her religion as a Jehovah’s Witness. She encouraged all of them to familiarize themselves with the Bible. “Can I become a Jehovah’s Witness?” Dennis would ask. He found himself captivated by his aunt’s faith, but Dianna feared that he wasn’t serious enough to become a member of her religion, that perhaps he was only seeking the acceptance and sense of belonging he had rarely known. However, confronted by Dennis’s unwavering insistence, Dianna finally allowed her nephew to be baptized at the age of 13, and she became his legal guardian shortly thereafter.

***

Charles Taze Russell was born on February 16, 1852 to Scottish-Irish immigrant parents in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. When his family moved to Pittsburgh, his father initiated their membership to the Presbyterian Church, but Russell shortly joined the congregational church at the age of 13. As a very religious boy, Russell was known to discuss religion freely and argumentatively -- specifically with non-believers -- chalk Bible verses on fences, and emphasize his belief that the punishment of hell awaited those who were unfaithful. His commitment to religion wavered at 16 when a childhood friend discussed the shortcomings of Christianity with him, but his dedication to God returned when he attended a presentation by an Adventist minister. Although raised Protestant, Russell felt as though he did not belong in any faith’s ideals, yet he persisted in studying the Bible and worked with his father to create an analytical Bible group.

This group of faithful acquaintances were strongly connected by their dissatisfaction for other ideologies, and so, financially secure after selling the five clothing stores he owned, Russell began working on what would become his first written work: The Object and Manner of Our Lord’s Return. This piece focused on Russell’s belief that Jesus’s return would occur materialistically as opposed to bodily resurrection which argues that Christ’s second coming will be literal, visual, and connected to the day of judgement that Witnesses believe will come in the future. Additionally, Russell believed that previous interpretations of the Bible were not accurate, and Christianity was obscuring the word of God. In order to correctly portray scripture, Russell interpreted the Bible directly, and shared his beliefs by selling fifty thousand copies of this book in 1877.

The overwhelming spread of Russell’s books led to the establishment in 1884 of a legal corporation named Zion’s Watchtower and Tract to serve as the centralized home of their faith. In an effort to further spread his message, Russell used his book as the home of his written work, and became commonly known during his time by appearing in different newspapers due to his faithful dedication. At this time, the popularity of his written work and ideology was at much dismay to the Catholic and Protestant clergy.

Before dying in 1916, Russell traveled around the world and acquired international supporters, believing that Christ’s resurrection would come when “his word is ministered to the end of the Earth.” During Russell’s last year alive, over 22 million copies of his last written work, Bible Student Monthly, were sold.

A year after Russell’s death, Joseph Franklin Rutherford was elected the new president of Zion Watchtower. As president, Rutherford was charged with orchestrating the spread of the Jehovah’s Witness faith. But Rutherford’s viewpoints were radically different than Russell’s, which caused a deep shift in the religion. In an attempt to cultivate an identifiable religion, Rutherford knew he would have to create a name. It wasn’t until 1931 during a convention in Columbus, Ohio, that Rutherford read a resolution declaring the newfound name. Based on a key line from the Old Testament (Isaiah 43:10-12: “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord”) the religion would now be called Jehovah’s Witnesses. In addition to the name, Rutherford would also initiate one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses other key identifiers: door-to-door ministry. Following Rutherford’s death in 1942, there have been four other presidents of the Society, and all have worked to uphold the ideologies of Charles Taze Russell, but none have surpassed the innovation Joseph Franklin Rutherford accomplished.

As a fairly young and smaller religion, Jehovah’s Witnesses have not had significant discussion in history, but one era served as a particularly testing time: World War II. During this time, Watch Tower Society expressed through literature that they believed Jehovah’s Witnesses were martyrs subject to a unique classification by the Nazis. During 1938, those in Holocaust camps were offered a perplexing option: sign a document that states they renounce their faith and be released or continue to be a prisoner indefinitely. In the end, it is speculated that less than a dozen Witnesses accepted this offer. In January of 1941, the American Civil Liberty Union began their report of the treatment of Witnesses by stating, “Not since the persecution of the Mormons years ago has any religious minority been so bitterly and generally attacked as the members of Jehovah’s Witnesses -- particularly in the spring and summer of 1940.” Nowadays, Witnesses have been categorized by their lack of patriotism at times of war, and this has created tension between their faith and the government’s craving for loyalty which is noticeably contentious in nationalistic countries. This idology stems from their belief that they owe their allegiance to God’s Kingdom so they refrain from saluting the flag or singing the national anthem because they view these acts as a sign of worship. This resistant disdain to patriotism not only served as the driving factor that made them particularly vulnerable in Nazi Germany, but also has contributed to their contrast to modern day society in America where national loyalty is arguably the driving force of American identity. This resilience and strength is something that drew Dennis to be a Witness and encouraged him to remain resistant to medical treatment that would force him to receive blood (Knox).

***

A short year later, Dennis was thriving as one of the top football players in his class when he found himself suddenly out of breath one day at practice. The doctor, concerned, told Dennis that he needed to do some blood tests at Seattle Children's Hospital. Within a week, Dianna and Dennis were stunned by his blood results: “Dennis has lymphoblastic Leukemia,” the doctor stated, “Unfortunately, he needs chemotherapy, but his odds of beating this illness are large -- 75%.” In order to do chemo, he would need a series of blood transfusions -- something his adopted faith fundamentally and adamantly opposes.

“I cannot accept blood,” Dennis shyly stated. Dianna dug her hand into her purse and clutched a thick piece of folded up paper: Dennis’s blood card. In bolded black and red letters, the envelop encasing the formal document  stated, “Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (Signed Document Inside) NO BLOOD.” For Dennis, Dianna, and other Witnesses, this card carries significant power to uphold their ideals more so than any other religious document. Dennis received his blood card shortly after being baptized, and Dianna toted it with her to the hospital. As Dianna handed it to the doctor, Dennis explained the fundamentals of his newfound faith to the doctor. Although unsure of the detriment of this decision, Dennis knew he would not turn his back on his devotion to Jehovah.

The opposition of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to blood transfusions stems from their interpretation of Bible verses such as Leviticus 17:14: “You must not eat the blood of any sort of flesh, because the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood. Anyone eating it will be cut off.” According to Church policy, those who accept blood are to be immediately turned away from the faith and are believed to be turned away by Jehovah himself at death.

***

John Silas Lundy, born July 6, 1894, was a physician and anesthesiologist responsible for milestones that produced what modern medicine knows as regular life-saving practices. As an analytical thinker, Dr. Lundy focused not only on effectively treating patients, but on ways to improve medical practices.  Lundy was specifically drawn to blood transfusions. In 1934, he worked to develop the creation of a hand roller in order to increase the efficiency of blood transfusions when he witnessed a spike in the number of patients requiring transfusions.

Prior to 1935, the process of blood transfusions were vastly different than modern practices, specifically because they were administered directly meaning that both the donor and recipient needed to be present at the time of a transfusion. As transfusions grew in popularity, doctors needed a way to store blood, and they begun to keep bags of blood in ice boxes for a maximum of 14 days. This increased accessibility and efficiency because donors didn’t need to be present during every instance that a transfusion was needed, and donations of blood could be divided to aid multiple recipients at once. Not only did this bring more promising treatment options for ill patients, but this also allowed for the donation of blood, and thus, the first blood bank was founded in Chicago in 1936.

Dr. Lundy took notes of these developments, and in his “Annual Report for 1936 of the Section on Anesthesia: Including Data on Blood Transfusion,” he noted that there were 149 recorded cases of blood transfusions, and this number continued to increase in the coming years. Thanks to the use of refrigeration and storing, Lundy noted that the amount of negative side effects had gone down. When Lundy continued to see the number of individuals requiring blood, he turned to The Cook County Hospital in hopes to find a way to increase the amount of blood accessible to doctors for operations and transfusions. In Lundy’s own words, he said, “Thus was established the first blood bank in North America, as far as I can find out. The Cook County Hospital in Chicago began such a service the next year, in 1936” (Bacon).

The founding of the first official and nationally recognized blood bank brought an increase of donors as well as an increase in the number of procedures used by doctors that require blood. 1945 brought the enactment of the doctrine of the Jehovah Witnesses stating that it is strictly against faithful practices to accept blood, and although some Witnesses have more lax viewpoints on medical treatments involving blood, their website as well as most members strongly refute and dismiss the use of medical treatment needing blood transfusions similar to Dennis and his aunt (Knox).

***

As the illness took over his life, Dennis made the decision to be an in-house hospice patient: he knew the next time he left that hospital, he would be dead. Nurses and doctors streamed into the room, and every now and then, one of them would stop, clipboard in hand: “You know, Dennis, it isn’t too late. We can still turn this around. You still have a chance to live; you just need to accept some blood,” to which Dennis would politely reply: “Yes, I understand, but accepting blood would compromise my faith.” As his skin yellowed and body became a skeleton of the strong athlete he once was, his room was filled each hour with members of his faith, most of which he didn’t know -- all of whom were there to support his refusal of blood.

Dennis and his aunt created a Caringbridge account full of posts about Dennis’s life in the hospital, and this allowed his extended family, biological parents, and friends to connect with his life inside the four sterile walls of his hospital room. When Rachel Vaughn, Dennis’s fourth and fifth grade teacher, discovered Dennis’s Caringbridge page, she quickly went to visit Dennis at the hospital. As Rachel walked into the hospital room full of ten to 15 individuals praying, all she could hear was her heartbeat and the machines lining the wall. “Dennis, you are a child,” Rachel stated after politely asking everyone to give them some privacy, “You do have an old soul, and 10 years from now, you can be pissed at me, but you have a lot more living to do.” As she glanced towards the door where all of the strangers had just left, she lowered her voice, “If they told you to take a blood transfusion, would you?” With a smirk on his face, almost a little too much confidence dripping from his frail voice, Dennis restated he would not take any blood, and Rachel drove home with tears streaming down her face. Rachel believed Dennis had fallen victim to his young impressionability: did he really understand the permanency of his decisions? Although articulat, respectful, and analytical, Dennis was still a child in many people’s eyes, and they believed him incapable of fully comprehending the complexity of his decision. The dispute towards Dennis’s life not only questions the philosophical implications of his refusal to treatment, but also the legality of his decision.

As a 14-year-old, Dennis wasn’t considered a legal adult, but under a Washington law enacted in 1967, if a doctor deemed a teenager to be mature enough, then their medical decisions were fully and only at their discretion.

***

    In 1961, Albert G. Smith was the head of his household at the age of 17. During his early years as father to one, a husband, and an employee post-graduation, he was diagnosed with a muscular disease, myasthenia gravis. Myasthenia gravis is incurable and chronic, and Albert feared the negative impact this disease would have on his life and his family. Given the skeletal weakness and easy muscle fatigue accompanied by muscular diseases, Albert and his wife knew he eventually would be unable to work and potentially bedridden. This was hard for their family to reconcile given he was their source of financial support, so to prevent the potential burden that having another child would have on their family, Albert and his wife decided it was in their best interest for Albert to receive a vasectomy.

    When Albert approached his family doctor and expressed his desire to be sexually sterilized, the doctor told him he would not perform the operation given he knew that there were certain aspects of hostility in Albert’s marriage, and he was skeptical about the true reasoning he was seeking a vasectomy in addition to his concern towards Albert’s age. Albert then decided to visit a different doctor, and explain the circumstances of his disease, but the doctor was still weary of Albert’s youth. Dr. Seibly, then presented Albert and his wife with the following statement:

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: We, the undersigned, hereby consent to the sterilization operation to be performed on the husband, having been told that the operation is a permanent thing, that there is no chance for a reestablishment of a viable sperm in the semen.

The couple then left after the doctor encouraged them to return home and consider the implications of this procedure, but Albert returned 12 day later and the surgery was performed.     After Albert turned 18, he decided to sue Seibly,

Alleging that [Sileby] was negligent in performing the vasectomy upon an infant of 18 years, was negligent in failing to explain to [Smith] the permanent consequences of the surgery, and that such surgery was performed without valid permission. The appellant asked damages in the amount of $52,000.

    Albert case occurred in 1961, and in 1967, it reached The Washington Supreme Court, and thus a law was made allowing minors deemed mentally mature enough by the discretion of their doctor to make their own medical decisions. This has now become known as the “Mature Minor Rule” in Washington, and it states that there is no specific age in which a minor is legally allowed to make their own medical decisions, just as Dennis was deemed capable of refusing blood (Smith).

***

The fight for Dennis didn’t get any easier, and each passing day was filled with more difficulty to stay awake and copious comments surfacing on his Caringbridge site -- mostly supportive words from his fellow Witnesses. When Dr. Hawkins, his primary doctor, knew Dennis’s journey was near its end, he pleaded with him.  “I know that you and a lot of other people want me to have the treatment,” Dennis emphasized, “but more people think I should follow my faith.” Hawkins believed Dennis still had a 70% chance at life if he was to change his mind in this moment.

At this point, Dennis’s aunt wasn’t the only member of his relatives involved in this controversy. His grandmother, Olga, was one of the most outspoken opponents of his decision. As she called the hospital, she pleaded with her daughter. “Dianna, don’t do this,” she cried repeatedly, but eventually Dianna denied her phone calls, so she contacted the hospital. Her words didn’t have much power, but she discovered hospital staff held the same opinions “Mrs. Lindberg,” one of Dennis’s primary nurses pleaded, “I’m telling you this because I’m a grandmother, and what they’re doing to your grandson is unforgivable.” Olga recognized her lack of influence in the situation, so she turned to Dennis’s biological parents. “Maybe they will reconsider knowing his biological parents disagree,” she stated on the phone to her son, so Big Dennis and Rachel headed to Seattle’s Children Hospital on a plane ride paid for by the state. However, Dianna told them they were not to discuss his illness with him because she feared the toll it would take on him, and his parents left defeated. It was as if their parental bond had been forgotten, and Dennis no longer viewed Rachel and Big Dennis as his family. Where had Dennis’s new found resilience and resentment towards his parents come from? How had he changed so much in the years following his adoption?  

***

From a lost boy to a definitive teenager, Dennis grapples with the identity he has created for himself. Given the unfortunate circumstances of his upbringing, his story becomes one of loss: the metaphorical loss of his parents, the loss of his identity prior to being a Jehovah’s Witness, and ultimately, the decision to face death. Was this a decision something Dennis had the right to make for himself? Dennis’s familial complications, unwavering commitment to his newfound religion, and decision-making debacle while in the hospital presents a complicated question: who belongs to who? Ultimately, the only person Dennis felt had ownership over him was himself, and the only part of his identity that could influence him was his religion.

    From the time Dennis was young, he didn’t feel as though he belonged to any specific place or to a one-dimensional family, especially when his parents moved around and abandoned him. Dennis began to see the locations and chapters of his life as transitory as his parental custody shifted back and forth between his biological parents and his aunt, but the overarching hope was that one day his parents would regain custody of him. Dennis’s outlook towards the temporariness of “home” is similar to the story of Esperanza in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Throughout a series of vignettes, Esperanza recounts and reflects upon the experiences from the house she lived in that piece together herself and her identity. Near the end of the book, she reminds herself of the many places she could define as “home” before, and this directly replicates the way Esperanza’s story begins at the beginning of the book “We didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, but what I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong but do not belong to” (Cisneros 109). To Esperanza, all of her prior homes and experiences do not have ownership over her, but rather she has ownership over them -- her narratives belong to her, not the other way around. This mirrors the mindset of Dennis as his belongingness to his identity resembles the sum of all of the parts of his life with him as the ultimate interpreter of his experiences.

From the time Dennis is diagnosed with leukemia, hia life becomes ruled by the impending end that is quickly approaching in the form of death. Dennis’s refusal of blood is ruled by his desire to be with Jehovah post-mortem as his religion has taught him. Knowing his life is approaching an end, his belongingness now arguably falls into the hands of death, but Dennis chooses to look at this as his religious destiny. Saying goodbye to the life he has come to know and surrendering to God would be the end of this chapter of Dennis’s life. This ending that he not only recognizes, but also expects is similar to that of Esperanza. She recognizes that her identity as she knows it as a girl living on Mango Street is only temporary, and she will have to say goodbye to life as she knows it.  “One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever” (109). Just like Dennis, Esperanza believes there are greater things lying ahead of her if she openly accepts the changes of her life.

    Both Dennis and Esperanza view the people around them as influential: some they choose to accept the outlook and impact of, and others they denounce and refute. Just alike Dennis who turns away from his biological parents, grandmother, and teacher, Esperanza mimics this anguish towards those she believes are unfitting to the course of her life whether from a wrongdoing or difference of opinion. When Esperanza’s closest friend, Sally, abandons her and Esperanza consequently is harassed by a boy, she resents her and calls her a liar “Sally, you lied. It wasn’t what you said at all… Why did you leave me all alone? I waited my whole life. You’re a liar ” (99-100). Esperanza disproves Sally’s words and begrudge her for abandoning her, and this is something Esperanza always holds against her. This impact of desertion echoes Dennis’s antinomy towards his parents after he spent years hoping for their sobriety as he craved a family. Dennis knows his parents refute the Jehovah’s Witness religion, yet his faith remains resilient, possibly fueled by his desire to oppose his parents. Just like Esperanza’s words, he waited his whole life with the hope his parents would return to their devotion to him as they had promised. Dennis dies opposing his biological parents and discounts their involvement in his life, so Dennis ultimately feels he never belonged to them, but did he, unlike Esperanza, resolve his longingness?

In the end, Esperanza knows when she leaves Mango Street, she will leave behind the people she once knew and even those she didn’t, just as Dennis willing leaves the people he is surrounded by. Dennis is somewhat unfeeling to the people he has reached in his life, and he does not reflect his fulfillment on the number of individuals he has associated himself with. When Esperanza reflects on this idea, she states, “One day I will go away… They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out” (109). Just like Dennis, Esperanza -- who is 12 -- believes even at a young age, she is not only leaving all those behind who she has known, but she is also deserting all of those she hasn’t met. Dennis knows when he dies, he is leaving all of the hospital staff, Jehovah’s Witnesses who dedicated their prayers to him, and most importantly, his family, but this is not something that impacts his decision or the emotionality of the remainder of his life.

Should Dennis have had an obligation to his family? His religion? Himself? This is something his family -- and a plethora of people across the U.S. -- have very divided opinions on. There is potential that Dennis would have not against his parents plea to accept treatment had he not had such a turbulent childhood.

***

Days before Dennis’s death, Dr. Hawkins weighed his options: allow Dennis to die under his care or force treatment. Hawkins believed Dennis’s groggy and ill mind was not capable of making decisions

Right now I don’t think he’s conscious enough to do that. He doesn’t have enough energy to do that. But as we give him blood, he would recover and regain strength, and you would have to tell me – would you want me to put him in restraints or to sedate him? I would have to do this repeatedly. That for me is very difficult to do with a 14-year-old.

Dennis’s case was taken to court as initiated by Seattle Children’s Hospital as they toyed with this question of belongingness.  In order to ensure they could not be at fault for his premature death, the hospital decided a judge should have the final conclusion of who Dennis Lindberg belonged to. Everyone in the courtroom sat on the edge of their seats as the judge entered to give the verdict “It is time to do what Dennis has decided, to place this in God’s hands. The motion to require an unconsented blood transfusion is denied.” For Dennis, this was the biggest victory he could have hoped for -- he finally knew he belonged to no one other than himself -- and seven hours after the hearing, he took his last breath.

Even while mourning the premature loss of a compassionate boy who meant so much to them, Dennis’s family still heavily disputed his decision to refuse treatment. Dianna celebrated the life of her adopted son with Jehovah’s Witnesses at a private funeral with a selective guest list while Olga organized a funeral where Rachel shakily sang “Amazing Grace.”  Upon returning home to Florida, Olga put a sign outside her condo: “No Jehovah’s Witnesses allowed on my property or I put a restraining order on you.” To everyone other than Dianna, this was not the life they ever would have wanted for Dennis, and the scars of Dennis’s decision proved to be deep. On his deathbed, Big Dennis screamed out his son’s name as he died of liver failure. Aside from Dianna, Dennis’s family refused to come to terms with his dedication to Jehovah and his resistance towards his family.

When Dianna was interviewed later, she made her continuous pride for Dennis’s choice apparent.

I knew I was helping him to actually die. It was awful. But the other option was more horrifying. To abandon Dennis in his strong conviction to uphold Bible principles as we understand them and allow transfusions to be forced upon him, would have killed him in so many other ways. Intellectually, I know that is not true. But, somehow, I want his name written down somewhere in our literature. I want him remembered. It's as though life goes by and he never existed. Not to me, but to others. It's hard to move on.

Dennis won’t be written into the Bible or become famous for what some consider his admirable courage. Yet, Dianna stands by his decision. For most of the eight million Jehovah’s Witnesses world-wide as well as his aunt, Dennis’s story is full of promise to the strength that his faith brought him, for his parents and grandmother, his story is one of tragedy, and for Dennis, his story is one of peace.