# How to Get Vegan Blood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2019, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195 "2019-09-13T23:23:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/21 "2019-09-14T15:09:34Z")
This reminds me of that “M_A_S\*H” episode where the racist soldier begs the doctors to not get any “Negro” blood for transfusion, so they gradually darken his skin just to mess with him. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/22 "2019-09-14T15:13:20Z")
Your best bet is pure synthetic blood with a few drops of spinach juice added for extra veganism. BTW, it is said that karma is stored in the blood; maybe if I drain out all my blood and transfuse with pure synthetic blood, my messy life might get better. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/23 "2019-09-14T15:38:53Z")
Well, once it’s processed blood becomes a drug, so it would be like asking for vegan Versed. Hopefully I was able to educate her. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/24 "2019-09-14T16:03:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m surprised that there have been no attempts to give a serious answer, [because you aren’t the first to ask this question.](https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090429194939AAwWDM8) Because of the high level of anonymity involved in regular blood donation, and because there are no vegan/vegetarian blood banks that I can find, vegan blood probably just isn’t possible to find…_but_ [but a blood substitute might be what your co-worker is looking for.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_substitute) Apparently there are no well-accepted oxygen-carrying substitutes, although blood substitutes can help with volume loss. Since Jehovah’s Witness neither donate or want to accept transfused blood, I wonder what happens if one needs a transfusion, plasma, or platelets? What if they’re unconscious when they’re brought to the hospital and can’t wave the doctor off? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/25 "2019-09-14T16:20:44Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Since Jehovah’s Witness neither donate or want to accept transfused blood, I wonder what happens if one needs a transfusion, plasma, or platelets? Two options: 1.) They discover that their religious faith isn’t as strong as their desire to live, take the blood. 2.) They stick to their guns, [and die](http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/26 "2019-09-14T16:24:11Z")
Oh, they also [kill their children](https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/08/30/these-jehovahs-witnesses-let-their-son-die-by-denying-him-a-blood-transfusion/) that way. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/27 "2019-09-14T16:31:02Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > Your best bet is pure synthetic blood Plus you only have to change it every 10,000 miles! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/28 "2019-09-14T16:33:02Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m surprised that there have been no attempts to give a serious answer, [URL=“[https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090429194939AAwWDM8](https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090429194939AAwWDM8)”]because you aren’t the first to ask this question. There was no need as **ivylass** already knew the answer. See the spoiler box in her second post. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/29 "2019-09-15T03:57:26Z")
Vegan blood? isn’t that just V-8 vegetable drink? (it’s the “blood” of vegetables) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/30 "2019-09-15T15:11:24Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Two options: > > 1.) They discover that their religious faith isn’t as strong as their desire to live, take the blood. > > 2.) They stick to their guns, [and die](http://ajwrb.org/jehovahs-witnesses-and-blood-tens-of-thousands-dead-in-hidden-tragedy). Most commonly it seems to be option #3: the medical team works with the JW to provide supportive care short of transfusion, which often if not usually works out OK. Exceptions include massive trauma, complex surgeries (possibly including organ transplantation\*) and the like. \*JWs accept solid organ transplantation, and such procedures (including kidney and pancreas transplants) have been accomplished successfully without blood transfusions. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/31 "2019-09-15T21:44:38Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Apparently there are no well-accepted oxygen-carrying substitutes, although blood substitutes can help with volume loss. > > Since Jehovah’s Witness neither donate or want to accept transfused blood, I wonder what happens if one needs a transfusion, plasma, or platelets? What if they’re unconscious when they’re brought to the hospital and can’t wave the doctor off? Way back in the early nineties, when I was writing for a business newspaper, I interviewed a man who’d developed a machine to perfuse a patient’s blood with oxygen, then recirculate it. One of the selling points he talked about was that it was acceptable to Jehovah’s Witnesses, as the only blood used was the patient’s own. Don’t know whatever happened with that, and now that I think about it, that wouldn’t solve the problem of replacing volume in the event of traumatic blood loss. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195/32 "2019-09-16T00:51:36Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Most commonly it seems to be option #3: the medical team works with the JW to provide supportive care short of transfusion, which often if not usually works out OK. Which–by definition–makes it _not_ a situation where “one needs a transfusion, plasma, or platelets.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-vegan-blood/840195.md?page=1)