It sucks to be prevented from being a good person....
 

Every time there's a blood drive (in the community, at work, etc...) I'm reminded that I can't give blood in the States because I lived in England in 1993-1994 and from 1995 to 1999 and LifeSource (amongst others) are afraid of Mad Cow Disease.

It really sucks because I'm O-, the universal donor.

:(

Meh. Any idiot can donate blood.

A better contribution is to have a child that is raised well and becomes a productive member of society. That's becoming an increasinly scarce commodity.

Welcome to Burton-upon-Trent.

Yeah, but people from England can't do that either.

Donate money every year to the Red Cross to "make up" for it. They still need some cash to perform the work.

Well, I finally can agree with you about something.

Not donating blood makes you a bad person?

Can't you make up for it by buying energy efficient light bulbs or something?

You definitely should do another good deed to make up for the lack of donating blood. I suggest handjobs for the homeless.

He could do it on Palm Sunday.

I'm pretty sure handjobs for the homeless is part of the...erm...stimulus package.

Don't have to have a child to make a contribution...

There is some new thing in California about not letting people that have had tattoos be donors. I've had two people tell me that because they have got a tattoo in the last couple years the DMV is declining them from being donors. I can't find anything about it and I can't confirm from my wife if they asked her when she got her new license but a couple guys in my training classes said the person taking their picture asked about their tattoos and denied their donor request.

I have a tattoo on my forearm and nobody has said anything to me about it. Maybe in 2011 when I renew my license it'll come up.

I'm the same way. I'm AB-, and I have never been able to give blood because I've been to India, then later lived in England for a time.

I can't find any information to back it up online on the DMV or Donor site. So I think it was a DMV idiot (not calling all people that work at the DMV an idiot just this person) taking things into their own hands...

Question since I don't follow this stuff much, but is there really a shortage of blood out there? I haven't heard about that in many years.

Question: Why not just *not* tell them you lived abroad and go ahead and give blood? If you've got risky blood, they'll catch it at the testing center and just discard your shit. Do you answer all internet surveys accurately, too?

Some people don't lie.

Here in MD, they do ask if you've had any piercings or tattoos in the past year.

Blood Donor Eligibility - American Red Cross Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Region

Dola - that was IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND too, only the first link googling "red cross tattoo blood donation"

edit: the second link includes this:


http://www.redcross.org/en/eligibility

Donor cards in CA have nothing to do with Red Cross...

YEAH GIVING BLOOD IS FOR WUSSIES

There's no test for CJD and it has an unknown gestation period.

He could do that but then he would be a bad person doing a good thing and it would cancel out not giving him the full goodness effect.

I was going to post earlier that at least he didn't lie (which was a good thing).

I don't want to get all preachy, but you shouldn't lie when you give blood. That blood is going to go into another human being. Yes, there are tests, but what about things tests don't catch? Or what if the test is incorrectly done, even if that's unlikely?

The short answer to RainMaker's question is: absolutely. The need for blood donations is increasing while the number of donors is decreasing. 35% of the population is eligible to donate while only about 5% actually do. The center where I donate has less than a 1 day supply of a number of blood types (O-, AB-, A-).

I donate every two weeks using a method called ABC (automated blood collection). They hook you up to a machine that draws blood from your arm, spins the components out (platelets, plasma, red blood cells) and collects what you are donating and returns the rest to your body.

It takes 90 minutes or so and is a great way to help the community. You can donate plasma and platelets every two weeks and red blood cells every eight weeks. One platelet donation has as many platelets as SIX whole blood donations. They are used to help patients recovering from cancer, leukemia, and trauma surgery (to name a few). Additionally, if you are CMV- then there is a good chance that your components are being used for babies in need.

The best part is you just sit there with your feet up, wrapped in warm blankets, watching a movie or reading a book or whatever. It is really easy. When the process is done it is cool to see the bag or bags filled with each component you are donating.

Anyway, if you are eligible, I highly encourage folks to look into regular ABC donation at their local medical center.

Additionally, I think the thing that bugs me is that a couple of years ago I finally overcame a childhood fear of needles and figured "Hey, I can give blood now!" only to be told I couldn't, due to a potential link to CJD that's never been proven. Seems like a waste, to be honest.

The lost pints just aren't worth the risk. I mean, we're pretty screwed if we end up with a tainted blood supply.

Wow. I hope I never need blood.

Sure, if the CJD link turns out to be true in 20 years (along with a long-term gestation period) and affects almost everyone who ever ate beef, it'll be a bit of a lonely world.

On the other hand, you'll get your dream of a drastically reduced human population. :p

On the bright side, now you can get a tattoo and a piercing without worrying that you're going to throw up on the tattoo artist!

Pretty sure the first post of the thread disproves this assertion. ;)

So you're saying I should actually *tell* them I have hepatitis before giving blood?

Learn something every day.

(Kidding.)

Actually, I'm kidding personally. When I worked in drug treatment, that was SOP for addicts giving blood and plasma at places where they pay you for such things. I've known for about ten years now that I should hope I never need a blood transfusion.

They don't allow me as I take Propecia

Otherwise, I'd be in there every 6 or 8 weeks. I did it once when I was 18, before I started taking, and it went really quick and fairly painless- apparently my blood flows pretty quickly. I gave myself allergy shots for years so needles don't really bother me.

But I still can't give :(

SI

I had a phobia about giving blood for a while, and then when I finally did, I got nauseous and passed out. It wasn't very pleasant, I guess a mild version of what it feels like to bleed to death.

So I'm probably red flagged from doing it again. I try to "make it up" in other ways.

Don't worry. For healthy people who don't give blood, the Red Cross sneaks into your house and takes it while your sleep.

That's why your mouth tastes like chloroform when you wake up sometimes.

Well now, that's certainly brightened my day up! :D


:(

(Was not implying you are an idiot, in case that thought came across)

:p

Everyone lies at some point, and if they tell you different, they're lying.

That's a lie!

Through fear of this being a stupid question, why is it more risky to have lived in the UK? Can't you get Mad Cow / CJD in the US? Denny Crane has it for starters.

Yes, but lying about serious things, and lying on stupid things are majorly different. Lying about something so you can donate blood could theoretically kill someone and is a very bad idea. Of course I'm sure there are a number of people that lie anyway and could care less about what could happen because of it.

No, I totally agree about the serious stuff, I was just commenting on your blanket statement.

Well I'm sure there are some people that don't lie.

Not a chance.

Pardon me for not reading the thread, but does donating blood seriously make you a good person?

dola

I think we need a diagram tbh..