Should there be restrictions on who can donate blood?

by Snoozy 35 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  Snoozy

  Found this article on a "Gay like" man that was refused and it got me to wondering..I really didn't know the rules!

  http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/man-says-rejected-blood-bank-seeming-gay-151627659.html

  He says:

  An Indiana man says a blood donation center rejected him as a donor because he appears to be gay--even though he isn't.

  Aaron Pace, 22, recently visited Bio-Blood Components Inc., in Gary, which pays up to $40 for blood and plasma donations. But during the interview process, he said, he was told he couldn't give blood because he seems gay.

  Though Pace is "admittedly and noticeably effeminate," according to the Chicago Sun-Times, he says he's straight.

  "It's not right that homeless people can give blood but homosexuals can't," Pace told the paper. "And I'm not even a homosexual."

  Snoozy
• 

  dgp

  Of course there must be restrictions on who can donate blood. For example, people who have had hepatitis are forbidden from donating. The same is true of people who have auto-immune diseases, or Chagas disease. You can't donate blood if you're not over 18, and you can't donate too often, either. You should not donate if you have had a cold, for example, or if you have swollen lymph glands. Of course, you must not donate if you have AIDS.

  The idea is to help people live; it is never to disregard the fact that somebody's blood may be infected with something.

  I am sure that you should not be forbidden from donating just because you look gay. No one can say that straight people are less prone to risks. But quite often nurses and doctors prefer to err on the side of caution. It's embarrassing, but it's in the best interest of the intended recipients. I think you can take a bit of embarrassment if that saves a life.
• 

  james_woods

  This issue (the fairness of refusing to accept blood donations from certain groups) came up on my Ferrari site where several doctors commented:

  some points -

  a) - It is not just gays. Exclusion also covers people from much of the African continent, even Great Britain (because of mad cow disease). It includes people who are drug users, even people who have had recent tattoos. Britain can exclude single men who have recently traveled to Thailand because of the high rate of HIV politives there - especially with the Thai transsexuals.

  b) - the argument that "all blood is tested for HIV" is not valid. Early stage infection of the HIV virus can give a false negative in tests for several weeks. There have been infections recorded from blood products that actually tested negative for HIV.

  c) - regardless of political correctness, the rate of HIV infection in the homosexual male community remains consistently high and has not really been reduced in more than a decade.

  I personally do not like to see anti-gay bias, but this seems to be a reasonable precaution on the part of the blood banks.
• 

  botchtowersociety

  I've tried, twice, and they won't allow me to donate. It is because I had cancer more than 15 years ago.
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  J. Hofer

  when it's about life or death, political correctness has to take a few steps back. cold facts are what count.
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  TD

  Of course there should be restrictions Having your blood put into somebody else's body is not a right
• 

  Diest

  Wait till they get a few 'Bears' in there...you know the gays who ride motorcycles and have neck beards lol.....No metro-sexuals, but they will let in the neckbeard gays.
• 

  james_woods

  when it's about life or death, political correctness has to take a few steps back. cold facts are what count.

  Of course there should be restrictions Having your blood put into somebody else's body is not a right

  This thread reminded me of the sad death of black U.S. tennis star Arthur Ashe from AIDS contracted from a tainted blood transfusion. The infection happened in the early days before careful blood screening.
• 

  Scully

  Absolutely there needs to be restrictions on who can donate blood.

  If you want the safest possible product to be available for yourself or a loved one, would you want to give someone with some form or other of hepatitis to donate to you? What about people who have HIV? What about people who have STDs like syphillis or gonorrhea?

  In Canada :

  People from high risk areas of Africa are automatically excluded due to high rates of HIV infection.
  People from the UK are automatically excluded due to high rates of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (aka Mad Cow Disease), as are people who have spent more than 3 months total travelling in the UK.
  Homosexual males and women who have had sex with a homosexual male are automatically excluded due to high rates of HIV infection.
  IV drug users are automatically excluded due to high rates of HIV and hepatitis infection.
  People who have traded sex for money or drugs are automatically excluded due to high rates of HIV and hepatitis infection, as well as gonorrhea and syphillis infection.
  People who have had cancer are automatically excluded. They may not be a risk due to infection, but donating itself may be a risk to the donor, should their cancer come back.
  Women who are pregnant, have had a baby, miscarriage or therapeutic abortion are unable to donate for 6 months after the event. Their bodies need time to recuperate.
  People who have had surgery are not allowed to donate for 6 months after their surgery, to allow their bodies to recuperate fully.
  People who have had tattoos or piercings are not allowed to donate for 6 months. Despite very strict standards of hygiene in reputable shops, some people still get tattoos and piercings in unsafe ways, which carries a high risk of contracting hepatitis C.
  People who have spent more than 48 hours in jail are not allowed to donate. I can't imagine what happens once you've been in jail for 49 hours, but it doesn't sound good.

  Think about the type of person who might need a blood transfusion. No otherwise healthy person in their right mind is going to walk into a hospital and say "I feel a little out of sorts today. How about a couple of shots of O negative to perk me up?" A person who needs a transfusion is usually quite symptomatic with weakness, shortness of breath, and unable to function normally. They may have had an accident where a lot of blood was lost, or they developed anemia through malnutrition or possibly through unusually excessive menstrual bleeding. They are compromised, and to knowingly transfuse them with something that could make them worse instead of better would be irresponsible.
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  Mad Sweeney

  Medically appropriate restrictions? Yes.

  Restrictions based on some rent-a-nurse's gut feeling about a donor? No.