This point has been address several times already. The restrictions are set by the FDA. Liability is not an issue.
This phrase certainly caught my attention.
Back to the OP. I answered all questions regarding past sexual practice and drug use truthfully, so I’ve been rejected. Too bad, because my blood type is somewhat rare. B-.
Really? the FDA *required * the Red Cross to use that test, not retest, and not accept the tests and report of my MD? :dubious:
Fair enough. I admit I skimmed pages two and three of this thread and missed that. I am curious what the FDA’s motivations are for some of their more extreme restrictions. Not curious enough to spend hours googling and researching it, but just curious enough to wonder if fear of litigation could still be a factor.
Actually, I think, based on your reasoning, you are exactly who the OP is talking about. Hope you come around and try it. You can take my place as I can’t donate anymore due to meds.
Absolutely correct. If you’re “somewhat uncomfortable” with the idea of donating blood that can and probably will save someone’s life, but are comfortable enough to accept the blood donated by someone else that might save yours, you are exactly the kind of person I mean.
As a pretty libertarian guy, I instinctively shy away from terms such as “responsiblity” or “civic duty.” However, if you can’t see the inherent problem in being unwilling to give what you would willingly receive…well, you’re welcome to my blood anyway but I think you’re kind of a prick.
But couldn’t the same argument be made for money or food? If I don’t donate food every 8 weeks to my local food pantry then I should starve to death if I’m ever unable to afford to buy groceries? Or if I don’t religiously donate money to the cancer society now, I shouldn’t accept any research or help from them if I later contract the disease?
Not exactly, because there are other sources of money and food. Now, if I had not only never donated food in my life, but had never given a dime to the United Way and never paid any taxes and never tithed to a church that supports a rescue mission or soup kitchen…then maybe. However, there is only one source (currently) of blood suitable for transfusion into humans: other humans.
I can see why you would argue that, but there’s a problem with the level of equivalency you’re asserting here.
When it comes to money, all of us (or at least most) have not only a finite amount, but actually a fairly limited amount. That money is used for things like food, shelter, clothing, and other essentials and non-essentials, and often there’s not much left from each paycheck, especially if we’re also putting some away so we don’t end up on the street during retirement. Unless my income considerably exceeds my expense, every $50 that i give to a cancer charity might be $50 that i can’t spend on groceries or health insurance.
Giving blood, however, does not suffer from the same problem. If i give a pint of blood now, it doesn’t really deprive me of any blood one week or one month down the road. That’s why people can, and do, give blood on a regular basis. Sure, my body needs to work a little to replenish what i’ve donated, but as long as i don’t give too much at any one time, the supply is not limited in the same way that my income is.
One could argue that giving blood takes up time that we could reasonably use doing something else, but in the OP’s case his employer is actually allowing employees to donate on company time, so there’s no real personal loss on this score.
Don’t get me wrong, i also think it’s great to support charities or good causes with financial contributions, but giving money away isn’t quite the same as giving blood.
Your reasoning seems counter-productive to me.
You say there are many “people who need donated blood to save their lives”, yet you are IN FAVOR of a policy that excludes many potential donors*, all because of political prejudice that has no valid scientific backing? When many other countries don’t have such restrictions at all, and get along fine without them.
Seems like the hurt to “my widdle feelings” is far less than the hurt to some injured person who needs blood. That’s real hurt!
- Some 62,000+ donors, according to the Red Crosses own estimate. That’s somewhere around a quarter-million pints of blood per year missed.
P.S. You’re trying to insult gay people, by calling them dicks? Get a clue, man. Gay people like dicks!
Is that true? I haven’t looked up the policies of a whole bunch of other countries on this issue, and would be interested to know how many have different policies.
As i said earlier in the thread, Australia only officially calls for a 12 month deferment for anyone who has had male-to-male sex, but for any sexually-active gay man that makes the ban effectively identical to the US policy.
But for every sexually active gay man, I wonder how many there are who had a brief homosexual fling (in 1979?!?) and have been hetero since.
Ive tried donating, three times in fact, but each time the donation van has been around during allergy season (nearly year-round for me), and so they wouldn’t take my blood incase it was a cold instead of allergies. Why oh why do you always come around in the spring/fall?!
/slight hijack
My veins collapse when they take blood in the hospital, whould that be much of a problem with donating? It was said earlier that they use bigger needles for donating blood vs. taking blood in the hospital, whould that help with the collapsed-vein issue?
/end slight hijack
Well, based on the best available statistics (Kinsey), that would be about 26%-29% of males.
Because according to the studies, about 36% of males had some homosexual activity with another male during their teen years, but only 7-10% of those males are primarily homosexual as adults.
I can’t donate any more since I came down with arthritis.
However, SWMBO is the Queen Of The Blood Center. She is type O negative - Ms. Universal. Eight gallons plus and going strong. Every three months, she’s in that chair saving somebody’s life.
Perhaps.
But i also wonder how many of them are secure enough to admit, even if only to themselves, that they can’t give blood due to that homosexual encounter?
My hunch is that some of them might shrug the rule off altogether as not applying to them because, you know, they’re not actually gay or anything.
Also, this whole issue still, in my opinion, doesn’t justify the indiscriminate banning of gay men without even asking about their level of sexual promiscuity, the extent to which they practiced safe sex, how long they’ve been in a monogamous relationship, etc., etc.
Blood transfusions saved my mother’s life–twice.
I used to donate regularly–about 3 times a year. Time was when I was too thin to give more often, and then I was too anemic, and then I was pregnant or lactating…
But what stopped me from donating was the harassment, similiar to what catsix
related.
They called and called and never let up. I did try to go in a few times, but now I had small kids and a part time job etc. Hell, I’m a nurse–I know how much blood is needed.
But I couldn’t stand it anymore. I would tell them that I was anemic and get a lecture from the caller saying that I could still give blood etc. It irritated me beyond measure.
So, I gave at my church’s blood drive. And got on the list from hell again!
FWIW, this was Lifesource I had to deal with. I am happy to give my blood to anyone but them… I’m O+, but every bit helps.
I’ll admit to being one of the lazy. I live in the middle of nowhere and honestly I don’t know where I would even go to give blood. I haven given in the past, have no issues with giving, no fear of needles or anything. But I haven’t made the effort. And yeah, I do feel a little guilty about it. I can’t promise to change, but I don’t mind being nagged about it.
“I can’t promise that I’ll try. But I will try to try.”
I would add the fact that Emergency Departments are required to give care, so many people without insurance use it like a primary care facility.
I’ve donated blood four or five times, which isn’t much over so many years. I started out enthusiastically as a teenager, donating blood for the first time when I was in high school, but I got queasy and lightheaded, which dissuaded me a bit. The straw that broke the camel’s back, though, was when they drew my blood and then the nurse or phlebotomist decided that it had taken to long to come out and was probably clotted and then threw a bag of my blood in the trash.