Hi
I was listening to a radio show a few nights ago and someone explained quickly how they prepare a body to be embalmed. When she mentioned how they use the machine that drains the blood out of the body, I was wondering well how do they dispose of the blood?
Does anyone know?
What happens to the blood during embalming? Basically, it goes down the drain.
Thanks! I seriously didn’t think any funeral home would have such a thing listed on their site so I didn’t bother checking.
Is that also what they do at the blood bank when the blood gets too old?
Too much money down the drain if they did that.
Units of rare antigen types can be “refreshed”-basically washed, and then frozen for future use in an emergency.
Some expired units go to the local University for use in various research labs. I’ve known of at least one instance when some blood went to the state crime lab, to be used in recreating a crime scene for the investigation I believe.
Also, I think expired plasma can be used by companies that manufacture biologicals.
And of course, we who work in the blood bank try to make darn sure that as few units as possible are wasted or allowed to expire in the first place.