Without blood

WITHOUT BLOOD - the fascinating story of a brave surgeon. Dr. Ron Lapin (1941-1995), who was born in Israel and later practiced in America, bravely challenged surgical traditions by opposing the often unnecessary and dangerous use of blood transfusions. He developed the electric scalpel named after him for the purposes of surgery on anemic patients, developed new surgical techniques, and was the first to use the blood substitute substance Fluosol to treat patients considered inoperable due to their low blood cell count. His professional struggle also took on a human rights dimension: his career as a surgeon was intertwined with his stand for the Jehovah's Witnesses, who rejected blood transfusions and were therefore discriminated against in traditional surgical circles. He performed transfusion-free surgery on more than 4,000 such patients and was the initiator of the network of bloodless surgery centers. His career and struggles are recalled in the book of investigative journalist Gene Church. Church spent more than a year in the company of Lapin and his team, and provides an authentic picture of both his successes and failures.