This makes me so sad, I don't usually cry when a celebrity dies but I teared up big time when Prince passed today, last time I teared up like this was when Robin Williams died. His George Harrison cover was incredible. And to top it off they were playing his greatest hits at Barnes and Noble today during my break.
Correct, the only medical treatment a Jehovah's Witness will refuse is a procedure involving either whole blood or whole blood components like plasma (due to the very sacred view of blood outlined both in the Mosaic law, Acts chapter 15 and their faith in the sacrificial value of Jesus' blood). A JW may even accept certain blood fragments in their treatment if it doesn't bother the individual's conscience. JWs encourage healthy eating, moderate drinking and regular doctor visits. A Jehovah's Witness can also be a doctor and practice both medicine and surgery, again, as long as it doesn't involve blood due to their strict adherence to the spiritual value of Jesus' blood.
As someone else said, Jehovah's Witnesses are also major advocates for modern medicine, in decades past they even worked with Johns Hopkins University in the influence and creation of the university's Center For Bloodless Medicine and Surgery. Found some more info about this here on the Johns Hopkins resource site and a lengthy article from the New Yorker last year about the impact they have had on modern medicine:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/bloodless_medicine_surgery/news.html
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-jehovahs-witnesses-are-changing-medicine?intcid=mod-yml
Also correct. Even if he had AIDS as that somewhat tacky tabloid article speculated, there is no way Prince was told "Hey, don't take your meds cuz God cured you!" as JWs do not believe in carasmatic "miracle" rituals and believe that only the Hebrew prophets, Jesus and the apostles were empowered to miraculously cure people and also for the reasons outlined above.
TLDR version? Yes, Prince was a Jehovah's Witness (he said he converted after studying with his friend Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone who is also a devout member) but even
if that tabloid site linked is correct that he died in part due to AIDS (which would make his passing even more sad and tragic), he would not have been told by JWs "Don't take your meds, God cured you!" because the only medical procedure JWs do not accept are whole blood transfusions and they do not believe in modern day miracle cures. But since an icon has died, some people just have to have their Elvis style conspiracy stories. If he had been a
Christian Scientist I could see why people would lean towards reading into a theory like that, otherwise that article is way off the mark.
Now let's watch Prince shred on While My Guitar Gently Weeps:
http://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y
