I am having another hip replacement next month. Last time I required 2 units of bloods to be transfused due to blood loss in surgery. I have a friend who is willing to donate blood for me, we are both B positive although I don’t know if we match 100%. I called the blood bank and was told that pre-op donation cost the donor $400 per unit! This makes no sense to me, as they are always begging for donors due to lack of stored blood.
Does anyone here have experience in this field, and can you explain to me why we would have to pay big bucks (not reimbursible by insurance) when in fact we would be saving them 2 units of blood???
(I am typically anemic and can’t donate my own blood ahead of time, wish I could)
Any heterologous blood donation (i.e. to be given to someone else, as opposed to autologous donation, which is your blood to be given to you in the future) must be tested for several blood-borne diseases. That testing costs a lot of money. The Red Cross is required to do the same testing, but because they do bulk testing, they can keep the cost per unit down. A typical clinical Blood Bank is designed to dispense blood, rather than collect it. Those that are FDA licensed can collect heterologous as well as autologous units, but often opt not to because of the expense. Autologous units are not required to undergo testing, as they can only be given back to the donor, so the cost of autologous donation is much less.
I don’t think beckwall is asking why it costs so much to do this as opposed to autologous, just why it costs so much to begin with.
Basically, beckwall is going in for surgery, might need some blood. Has a friend willing to donate said blood. If you can donate blood for free, why would it cost $400 to donate it to a specific person. Especially given that if it isn’t needed for the surgery it will just go back to the general pool and be given to someone else that needs it, and if it is needed for the surgery, and the friend didn’t agree to this, it would just come out of the general pool.
I agree sounds odd.
Maybe instead your friend could just go to a blood donation place and donate it on his/her own. That way if you do need blood, they can still feel like they did their part to offset your need.
No - I think the friend is donating the blood specifically for beckwall to use.
Basically, beckwall doesn’t want just anybody’s blood - only friend of beckwall’s blood. That blood will still have to be tested for all the usual things, but because it’s a “special” request, there is an additional cost involved. Keeping that blood seperate, having someone do specific tests on those pints, etc. So of course there’s an additional cost. As it is a “special request”, it’s only fair that the costs be passed on either to the person making the donation, or the person receiving the “special” blood.