A blood supply shortage in the US has reached a “crisis” level, according to the American Red Cross, which says it is the second time in its 150-year history that levels have been this low.
Factors including wildfires and extreme heat have combined to create the current situation, Dr Courtney Lawrence, who works with the American Red Cross, told the BBC.
Supply levels dropped by a quarter just last month. The crisis has struck during summer, when the amount of blood needed by hospitals typically increases.
That is because of an increased number of car accidents and more people spending time outdoors, resulting in more injuries that require blood transfusions, Lawrence said.
I can’t stomach the idea of “donating” blood only for it to be marked up and sold for thousands of dollars to those who need it.
Pay people and you’ll have your blood. Works for plasma centers.
Whole blood is not sold for profit, but organizations do charge hospitals a handling fee to cover operational costs… but I just realized as I was typing this that you aren’t talking about the organizations that collect blood, but the hospitals.
I looked up what it generally costs for a one-unit (1pt, ~470ml) blood transfusion, and it’s over $2000! I’d like to think that all the blood and platelet donations I’ve made over the years had saved lives, which objectively they probably did. But now knowing how much hospitals and insurance companies are profiting off of the act of donating makes it feel less like a selfless act of compassion and more like cattle being herded into a milking parlor.
The orphan crushing machine strikes again.
Similar stuff happens with some charities too and the amount of money eaten up by administrative fees.
Least they could do is give you a voucher to cover a future blood transfusion if you need it.
It’s sad but true.
As much as i know blood is needed, I haven’t given blood in years. If I got into a car accident on the way home they’d sell it back to me for an absurd rate. Fuck them.
Even though companies are making a profit off of it, donating blood is still so important. Not doing it because someone is profiting off of the donation only hurts the people who need the transfusion more. The laws surrounding profiting off of donated blood need to change, but the need for blood still exists.
but the need for blood still exists
Whose blood?
Do they still refuse people who lived in Europe from 1980 (or 1981, I don’t remember the start year) on for fear of mad cow disease? I know someone who says they were there just a few months past the start of that window, and mad cow didn’t even make the news for nearly a decade after that. Red Cross was still refusing his donations last time he tried, despite not showing any signs of the disease in all this time.
Nope! I grew up overseas and they finally eased those restrictions a couple of years ago.
I can’t vouch for the Red Cross specifically, but the blood bank I work for has no issues with it anymore.
I lived in Germany in the 80s and early 90s, and I can’t donate blood still
We donated blood (O+) at every possible interval to help the community and then when we were gay one of the doctors had to inform me that we marked down that we had sexual contact with another man not thinking about it. Even though we explained it was with a condom and we didn’t have any std, we asked what if we had sex with a woman? He said it wouldn’t have been an issue. Sheet that we were denied. Then we eventually came out trans and was sure that now we could probably get around it but alas that was also not allowed.
Never had an std, blood borne illness/disease, were fit as a fiddle blood/body wise (our disabilities do not affect that) and our bi yearly donation hasn’t been done in 8 or so years.
Hopefully now in EU they’ll let us donate blood again, we do care about people and the good we can do, even if it’s a little.
Edit: we can donate blood in Spain! Yippeeee!!!
In the US they’ve changed those questions.
Have they? What it saying now?
I used to donate platelets every two weeks, but I haven’t gone in a few years. The last time I went was beginning of 2024; at that time they still asked all the same questions.
If it’s still asking the same questions by then, then we wouldn’t have had the chance to see the new rules before moving.
Phlebotomist here! Our organisation does ask these questions, but it works more like a flow chart; essentially what we’re trying to rule out is if you’ve had anal sex with a new partner in the last 3 months, just because of the inherent risks there.
Condom use, while ideal on a personal level, is kind of a moot point where donating is concerned just because there’s no way for us to know that it was worn correctly, that nothing went away with it, etc.
Honestly having any sex with a new partner within 3 months and is given to everyone as a blanket question would be totally fine in my eyes, idk why anal itself has to be specified. Either way, better than what we were looking at before so it is progress :3
Sorry, didn’t mean to be unclear! The question is in fact posited to every applicant regardless of sex/gender/orientation, our entire questionnaire is universal. Anal sex is brought up with anybody that’s had a recent new partner(again regardless of any of those metrics) just because of the enhanced risk due to delicate tissues etc. involved.
Like you say, at least it’s progress!
Donating has always been on my to-do list, but I just never made the time. I think I did it once 25 years ago in high school.
I finally made the time about a month ago, and they made it so easy I told them to keep a standing appointment every two months (the maximum.) Found out I’m O-, so I feel like I’m doing some real good.
I’m o negative and I donated blood once. I shit you not, they called me hundreds of times after that. They called me once or twice a day for months.
I asked them to change my phone number, to remove my phone number, to please stop calling. I told them that I had died, that I’d taken up heroin as a hobby, that I’d begun having gay sex. They kept calling.
I will never donate blood again.
O negative is one of the most valuable blood types. So they obviously want it.
I understand that but if my reward for donating is my phone constantly ringing with calls from unknown numbers, which then use a recording to leave voicemails, which I have to dial in to delete, I’m out. My good deed has been sufficiently punished. I have learned from my mistake.
Oh no you’re slightly inconvenienced. The horror!
Fuck off. Constant spam calls are not a negligible inconvenience.
I mean, it kinda is in the modern day tbh
Why would I donate blood. chances are a nazi whore will get my blood because his feefees are hurt even if a brown or lgbtq person needs it more due to bleeding out.
You would rather let the innocent die than see a guilty person receive a gift?
I’d rather see every filthy nazi and maga) bastard in America dead. if that means a few thousand innocent people die too. so be it. sacrifice the few to save the world.
Be careful when fighting monsters that you yourself do not become a monster…
