I used to donate blood a few years ago. I started just after I was 18 and continued for a couple of years, going every six months. I had to stop because I have had operations and I have valves and tubes in me (long story for another day). The nurses said that because I had “artifical bodies” in me, I could not donate blood cause the change in blood pressure could cause problems with them. I have not been able to donate since.
[hijack]What some people have mentioned about taking the plasma out of the blood and giving it back, does anyone know if that would be ok in this case? I have heard of that before, but I don’t know if that would be ok.[/hijack]
Probably the reason they are so stringent now with
men who have had any gay sex since 1977, donating, is
because of perception.
The Red Cross, try as they might, still has to deal with
the problem that people don’t understand you can’t get AIDS
by donating. Ever since Paul Michael Glaser’s wife died
of AIDS from receiving HIV-infected blood, they’ve had
problems with getting people to donate.
I think they feel that by being as stringent as they are,
they can convince some irrational people it’s safe to donate.
By the way, one of the many spiels I get every time I donate
is “No HIV test is 100% correct. Do you understand that you
may have the virus that causes AIDS, even if you feel
healthy today? Do you understand that you can pass the
virus on, even if you feel healthy and have no symptoms?”
(Yes, yes). And then, “are you giving blood today in order
to be tested for HIV?”
And THEN you still have to answer, confidentially, whether
or not you believe your blood is safe.
Arguments that it’s not unfair segregation -
They don’t care if you’re heterosexual but were raped by
a man. They won’t take it.
Lesbians can give all they want.
You can’t give now if you’ve been spent a total of six
months combined since 1985 in England, Wales, Scotland,
Northern Ireland, the Isle of Mann and the Channel Islands.
Is it overkill? Probably. But the Red Cross spends a lot
of time and resources figuring out how to maximize their
safe donations - I’m sure they’ve done some cost/benefit
analysis on the stringency of their rules, and how many
donations it’ll cost them, versus the perception that it’s
safe to donate blood.
I just gave last week and they’ve stopped asking some questions, or at least they didn’t ask me. They didn’t ask stuff about are you donating to find out if you have HIV etc. ANd they also changed the dates on the Mad Cow stuff, it’s mid-80s to 96 or so.
I don’t see why anymore they would not allow gay men to donate, but why would gay men donate more than other people?
