I was speaking with a lady today & found out she's been a nurse in the blood transfusion unit at our hospital for the past 15 years. I said, "I have an off-the-wall question for you...I was having a discussion with somebody about Jehovah's Witnesses. I know they're not allowed to get blood transfusions but they can get fractions, right?" She said that they have a way to put it in the system, so just in case there's a mistake or misunderstanding, a signal will pop up on the computer so a transfusion won't take place. I asked, "Is there any way to get those fractions from any way other than from blood? "No, it all comes from blood." As a side comment (she was very enthusiastic talking about her job & blood ), she went on to explain all the different types of fractions there are & said "but really, its all blood, that's just how we look at it." My response was: "sorry, I know I may sound weird asking this but I find it so interesting. The fractions you're talking about are stored, right?" She kinda looked at me funny. I got embarrassed but said, "I mean, you guys have it 'in stock' so to speak, right?"
"Oh, yeah....it comes to us from Red Cross. They do the separating (for the fractions) and then send us whole blood and fractions, which we keep some of it frozen until it's needed. (Some of it, she said, stays room tempurature but is constantly being shaken....not sure why though).
So I thought this was quite an interesting conversation today. I've read all about it, but have never actually spoken to someone who knows firsthand. And I'm angered that Witnesses are allowed to take the blood fractions that others have so kindly donated. Yet they refuse to donate blood.