another one is, have you had allergies since you last donated?
i know some people just say to lie for every question. technically they screen every donation, but it’s not supposedly a reliable test for something like HIV.
i’m pretty sure i’m just allergic to reality. sometimes just constant sneezing, even when i’m on an antihistamine.
obviously best to just be aware of one’s behavior and risk factors. do they do this just avoid liability?
a condition with scab formation?
Ask them if unsure but my guess is they mean conditions like Haemophilia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemophilia
Also don’t rely on their screening. I believe the test a performed on bundles of donations for efficiency and a bad donation may cause the others in that bundle to be discarded too.
Haemophilia
yeah that would be bad. I have known people who relied on this as like a “checkup” on their own “risky” behavior.
it’s not like it’s cool to rely on this as an HIV check, but it comes with a ton of unnecessary and inappropriate judgment
This isn’t the 1980s.
They do this because it is important. It’s better to not donate, than to donate something that will kill someone.
yeah but you’re not hearing my question. literally no one is going to say sorry, can’t donate, got a mosquito bite
edit i don’t live somewhere that mosquitos are known for transmitting illness, like zika, malaria, whatever else
Yeah and then people will die because of it. Oopsie, right? If they ask you a question, answer it truthfully. If you have a question about it, ask them about it. If something isn’t a big deal, they won’t reject it. If it is, they will. Simple as.
i assume you’ve never donated plasma
Try again. But by all means, be selfish and lie on the forms since you are arrogant enough to know better than the people who actually collect the blood, or the teams that carefully create these questionaires. It’s not like these are there for both your safety and the safety of the patient.
out of all the stupid things to not get and persist in misunderstanding
Some people just say to lie for every question.
People say this? I’ve never heard anyone donating blood say this, and I personally would say that all precautions taken by the professionals that collect blood donations should be taken very seriously. It’s not, at the end of the day, up to me to be the judge of what is or isn’t a condition serious enough that my blood shouldn’t be accepted. I’ll give the professionals as much information as possible, and then let them judge whether or not it is safe to give my blood to someone else.
I would never even dream of lying in order to donate blood, when that could end up actively harming someone, and I honestly cannot see the argument in favour of doing that. The whole point of donating blood is helping people.
I should note, they said plasma donation, which in the US are usually places that will pay you for the “donation”. The blood banks also take plasma donations, but I don’t think they will pay. Plasma donation is something that seems to be marketed to people that are just barely getting by. And so people lying about their conditions tend to make more sense, as they are just trying to find ways to make ends meet, or have just a little bit of money to spend after expenses.
perhaps you’ve never met someone who was desperate? never been broke and tried to feed a hungry child?
shit’s crazy. there’s an entire micro economy around plasma. whatever is going on in your life, don’t pretend
Ok, so systems for donating blood are different in different places, I get that. Where I’m from, the only benefit you get from donating blood is a thumbs up, pat on the back, and a popsicle or a coffee cup or some other small gift.
donating blood is NOT donating plasma.
blood is probably more valuable, especially if you’re near something crazy, like a war or natural disaster. blood is so valuable it’s insane
plasma, also super valuable, not so immediately helpful to people dying in a war zone
i was literally just asking about mosquito bites what the fuck
i was literally just asking about mosquito bites what the fuck
You also asked if you should lie about safety on stuff to inject into other human beings who need medical aid. That shouldn’t even be a question. Needing money is no excuse to gamble with the lives of others.
Whether I should lie about critical safety matters was not the question, and I got a ton of disingenuous flack and you’re buying into that.
Are you sure that the question wasn’t asking if you have a condition which prevents scab formation? That might indicate a clotting disorder or some other problem that may make donating blood/plasma a bad idea for you.
That would be a better and more helpful question. Again, I think they are backing that liability truck up to an anonymous loading dock in New Jersey
Yeah, I think bodily fluid donation is governed by federal legislation, so it’s a felony to violate them, right? Canadian here. That would make me want to cover my ass too.
Our donations can’t be paid and there are a lot fewer people donating, so all I know about it is that Canadian Blood Services would rather throw your blood out on the off-chance that you’re lying than actually send it for testing. I guess they want a sure thing and the testing is a formality. Probably the US is the same.
When you give blood, often the “wrong” answer will just have them ask a followup after you submit the questionnaire. Like there is one asking if you had recently visited any of a list of countries of concern. I selected that I had because of a trip to Mexico, but I was still able to give blood that day because when they later asked which region, the one I had visited was considered safe.
I expect if you had been bitten by a mosquito in a place where that isn’t a significant concern and developed no symptoms other than the itch, you would probably be approved to donate. Receiving plasma is less dangerous than receiving blood so I would be surprised if the safety evaluation is more strict.
Yes.
We’re all just blasted by nuance apparently
Much love for all the phlebotomists, the diligent scientists, the ones who look at our body bits in microscopes
cameras that cover the microscope and it put in a screen was a godsend for folks with poor vision in the field (and many in the field wear glasses.)
That’s fucked up to use donations as a checkup. Hope you were joking
