Have you donated blood ?

As I've said previously hats off to those who donate blood. You all are the plural of mensch. I can't because of an exposure to Hep B forty years ago.

I used to donate on a regular basis and had no problems at all. It always made me feel good to know that I might be helping somebody who needed it. However, the last time I donated (more than 10 years ago), it seemed to take forever to recover. Now, due to medical conditions, medications, and chronic anemia, I am no longer able to donate.

They sell that donated blood for several hundred dollars a pint under the guise of processing fees. The executives make large salaries and have perks. Also if you have no insurance you may never make it as far as receiving blood because they will make you minimally comfortable and send you home. Its all about money.

They sell that donated blood for several hundred dollars a pint under the guise of processing fees. The executives make large salaries and have perks. Also if you have no insurance you may never make it as far as receiving blood because they will make you minimally comfortable and send you home. Its all about money.

Ability to pay isn't an issue in US healthcare. Most if not all states have laws to prevent what you're saying. You may owe money for the rest of your life, but you can't be denied necessary care.

Packed red blood cells cost about $155 a pint. The price to the patient is about $220. The difference are processing costs, blood bank handling and administration costs. No one makes money on blood. To think so is naive and paranoid. Receiving blood puts such patients in a higher risk category and the costs are higher for such care. No one is denied blood. The only problem is if there's a shortage. Believe me in an emergency blood is literally whisked from other blood banks. I know because I work in a charity hospital. Everyone gets care no matter who you are.

My Dad donated blood every 4 months for years. He received several recognitions from the Red Cross for his donations. When I was younger I tried several times to donate and was told my blood pressure was too low, Now due to medical conditions and multiple medications I can't donate. I think anyone who donates should be thanked what they do can and does save lives.

Then it is sad all these folks are paying high premiums for Obama Care with high deductibles before it even kicks in. Several hundred dollars a month then thousands in deductibles. Why even have this if the care is offered for free. I have the Cadillac Plan at work which really infuriates the left wing liberals. The whole system seems broken.

Care is not offered for free. It isn't denied based on ability to pay. One of the reasons our costs are high is to compensate for charity care.

The system is broken. The ones with the hammer are the health insurance industry and the lawyers.

Regarding the frequency of donations - a person can donate platelets about every two weeks. Every fourth week they can take both platelets and plasma in the same visit. Every 56 days they can take blood. So when I donate then, they will take platelets, plasma and blood in one visit. If a person comes in for just a bimonthly blood donation I believe they take 450 ml. When I have the platelets plasma blood donation I believe it is only 250 ml of whole blood. I generally try to go every couple weeks or so.

John657, Total respect to you for being a donor of 30 years standing. I hope I can eventually achieve such an admirable level of generosity.

In Britain, whole blood donation vs platelet donation is treated with much more caution than in the USA it seems. There is a minimum whole blood donation interval of 12 weeks for men and 16 weeks for women (due to their naturally lower iron stocks). Personally I stay with a conservative 16 week interval, as I am very active physically.

Now with platelet donation, the maximum number of procedures per year is 24 with a minimum interval of two weeks. I understand the UK Blood and Transplant Service can sometimes try to match you with individual patients' tissue type where previous platelet transfusions have not worked.

Plasma donors are limited to 15 litres per year.

No. Period. Never have. Two reasons, doctor told my mother i was anemic as a tween, and doc advised against it, (I think he was just against me it) Two, They take YOUR blood and sell it to the highest bidder. You get a lollipop, they get top dollar.

If I have to go in for surgery and need blood for myself, yes, I would look into my own. Have had 4 surgeries in my life, one life threatening. Fortunately never needed blood.

No no no they don't sell your blood to the highest bidder.

The main priority should be about saving life, not arguing about how much blood does or does not cost.

If someone is anaemic then obviously they cannot stand to lose any further iron from their system, and are unsuitable as donors. That is a valid reason for not donating. A resistance to perceived commercial exploitation of blood products isn't.

Well in the UK blood, plasma, Cryoprecipitate and platelets donated is use freely to help patients free of charge as our healthcare system is free to all UK citizens. I had a friend who worked for the Blood and Transplant Service and the cost to produce Platelets, FFP ( Fresh Frozen Plasma ),Cryoprecipitate( Clotting proteins like Fibrinogen, Factor VIII , Factor XIII and Von Willebrand factor) , and Packed Red Cells ( we don't transfuse whole blood) is quite astronomical , in fact I was shocked at the cost, given how much of these we use in my clinical environment (ITU).

RN1993, Yes, I understand that with blood stocks at the level they typically are, whole blood needs to be separated out into products to make it stretch further. I can well understand that this will be extremely costly.

My wife and I have recently been approached to be platelet donors (both O+). The Blood and Transplant Service seem to be keen to encourage our type to switch, depending on a blood vessel assessment next time we donate whole blood.

I'm not surprised DrZ as platelets stocks are generally low and the yield is small compared to FFP's or packed cells. But they are so vitally needed in critical care where platelets levels drop from illness, medication, procedures etc. Freezing blood affects its ability to clot, so if you get a lot of transfusions of red cells, you need FFP's, Platelets and Cryoprecipitate.

Well nonetheless thanks for donating the blood and as Teasco says " Every little bits helps" lol

I'm not surprised DrZ as platelets stocks are generally low and the yield is small compared to FFP's or packed cells. But they are so vitally needed in critical care where platelets levels drop from illness, medication, procedures etc. Freezing blood affects its ability to clot, so if you get a lot of transfusions of red cells, you need FFP's, Platelets and Cryoprecipitate.

Yes, RN1993, that is pretty much what they said to us. I was also aware before this that some patients need platelet donors who have been matched to their tissue type, as this can become necessary when other platelet transfusions have failed. In a manner of speaking, a small group of platelet donors can be responsible for keeping a patient alive.

I can't because I used to live in Germany.

I can't because I used to use growth hormones. But to those who can, remember you can save 3 lives by donating

I do whenever the bloodmobile comes to the office park where I work. It's usually around a holiday because blood inventories get really low then.

Yes but it's been a long time since I did. I take a pot full of medicines these days so I can't donate.

Have never donated blood before.

Since I have received transfusions many years ago I wondered what was going on with the DNA from the donor once in my body. I was a kid and I did not know how that was that going to affect me. It doesn't because the DNA from the donor dissapears after while with the death of the transfusion cells, in case there is DNA at all... However, during those times of ignorance and innocence it felt interesting to think of the connection I had with a stranger that saved my life. I wondered what those persons looked like, if they were good people, where did they come from, what was their life like...

Just an inside from a recipient's mind?

Nadyasb I must say you really provided some interesting and poignant points in your post:

Since I have received transfusions many years ago I wondered what was going on with the DNA from the donor once in my body. I was a kid and I did not know how that was that going to affect me. It doesn't because the DNA from the donor dissapears after while with the death of the transfusion cells, in case there is DNA at all... However, during those times of ignorance and innocence it felt interesting to think of the connection I had with a stranger that saved my life. I wondered what those persons looked like, if they were good people, where did they come from, what was their life like...

Just an inside from a recipient's mind?

It always interesting when you think that all blood is donate freely by individuals simply to help other individuals without any motivation for monetary reciprocation, something that is all but varnishing in this modern age.

As I'm involved in organ donation in my job, recipients are always doing the same , wondering what the donor was like , their personalities, background, physical appearance. The Organ Donation Service transplant co-ordinators are just brilliant when it comes to this part of the job and I have known instances where the recipient have met the donor relatives. Normally we get a letter stating that the organs was given to a man, woman or child and a bit of their background ( nothing that can be used to identify them) .

So Nadyasb its always nice and interesting to see a reply from recipient that generates thoughts on a subject. Encouragement and thanks sent for a though provoking post .

I have yes, a few times. I'm also signed up as an organ donor via my drivers license, in case the unforeseeable happens

I was signed up on my California drivers license as a donor for years. When I contracted hepatitis B from a needle stick I was devastated to have to change my status.

I've donated many times, though nearly rejected a few for a low blood pressure, which is normal for me. At that point, you'd be rejected for less than about 100/60 where I was, and I was barely over 100. Recently, I was rejected for having visited an area near Cancun, MX that was regarded as endemic for malaria. Supposedly I can donate again now as I haven't been there for a couple of years, but I'll have to test that theory again soon. And I've been listed as an organ donor on my licenses for many years. So far, I still have all of them, but there was that time in 2000 when I fell asleep at the wheel driving about 75 on a Texas State Highway going to Dallas (post-call day). I'm very lucky to still have everything in place and still working - thank You, Lord.

Eric

I used to donate blood all the time, as often as I could, but I gave up about 5 or 6 years ago because every single time I went I was rejected for iron issues. I also used to always be an organ donor as well but over the past few years I have also changed my status on that as well. I have decided to have my entire body donated to the Ohio State Medical School so that our future doctors and other medical professionals have the opportunity to actually see, open, touch, and examine a real body. I have done my share of cadaver work and I don't care how good a computer simulated program is, nothing can replace the real thing. So I may not be directly helping the living as organ donation does, I am instead helping the living in a future by providing a platform unmatched by all others so that the future medical staff can help so many more in the long run.

Liquid, didn't you get your Hep B shots? They are required here by law if you are a medical professional.

Mashie

Sadly my needle exposure ante dated the vaccine. I didn't develop full blown Hep B just severe enteritis. Fortunately I cleared the virus. Oh the hazards of emergency medicine.

Liquid, I am so sorry that happened to you. I had a very scary issue like that happen to me once but it was for something else and wasn't AIDS either. I need to look back at my medical history. The CDC had to come in for that one. The disease that person had was super rare. I was drawing urine out of a catheter port actually and the lady suddenly had a muscle spasm as I was in the middle of sticking the tube top. The needle went right into my hand. Geese the testing and crap I had to go through for the next couple of years. Whatever she had, again it was so rare the CDC didn't even know if it crossed into the urine or not at that point. In some ways my accident helped provide some very valuable medical information, but still. For the next 2 years I was tested off and on, always when the CDC wanted. They actually came in to do draw the blood too. They always came to me. Even after I left that job for an additional 6 months they were still coming to me. I asked them once why I just couldn't have it sent out to medlab for example and they said because they didn't want it lost, messed up, or changing hands any more than it needed to.

So, because of my scare I am a bit hypersensitive to others who have been in my shoes. I have heard over the years that accidents like yours and mine should never happen and if we were paying more attention we could have prevented it. Well I beg to differ. You can be the most careful person in the world. Gloves do not stop a needle stick. Patients are highly unpredictable, capable of anything, it's the human factor I suppose.

I am glad, no very very happy that you cleared the virus Liquid. I know you had to have been more than a bit scared. Oy! I am sorry you had to go through that.

Mashie