Poll: Blood Doning

[Absimilliard]

I actually am a blood donor, but Norway has pretty strict rules regarding a "quarantine period" if you've e.g. gotten a tattoo, piercing or new sexual partner, so I'm not donating for the time being.

 

[Dystopia]

But there's one problem. Because of one tiny tiny thing they absolutely refuse to even draw and test my blood, no discussion or argument, just fuck right off and never come back. Because I am male attracted to other males.

I'm not shitting you.

I can't because I am a girl who slept with a guy who's slept with other guys.

Before that though, I did try. I got through the door, saw someone lying down with a bag of blood next to them and just turned and walked out. Terrified of needles.

 

[scw55]

I didn't know that you had to state your sexuality to complete strangers.

It's one of very few cases where you do have to answer, gay males are labelled as high risk for HIV. Honestly the numbers back it up to some degree, gay males have a much higher risk than straight couples who have a higher risk than gay female couples but it's a bit of a silly system. As far as I know they ask if you're a practicing homosexual, meaning people who haven't had sex don't count as high risk but still.

Practising homosexual makes it sound like it's a profession. I love how political correctness is more insulting than being blunt.

I would simply lie personally.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure not every man who enjoys men wants to go around shagging everything. Good old prejudices. Blame the stereotype.

Just because you understand doesn't mean you agree.


The best option is if you're homosexual and wish to donate blood, get tested for HIV. If it's negative go and donate and lie about your sexuality. You've gone and ensured your blood is clean. You don't need to be 'understandably' discriminated by a complete stranger.

 

[Daffy F]

I gave blood four days ago, so now I have to wait three months before I can do it again. It's for a good cause and I'm type O+ so it's useful to most people.

It'd be better if you were O-, then you'd be useful to everyone!

Yes. I give blood every 3 months, just because I think it's a good thing to do, and the free drinks and packets of crisps are inconsequential, to be honest.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I've had the though several times, but always forgotten due to the memory span of a goldfish. I will next semester though, as the local hospital is connected to my university, so I can do it after a lecture. Thanks for reminding me, I'm sure they'll have use for my blood even if it's inferior regular A blood type.

 

[s0p0g]

doing it regularly, giving all i can: plasma, erythrocytes, thrombocytes, whenever and as often as law allows it

 

[Kreett]

No you cannot. There are not enough benefits for me to go do it in Sweden. All I get is like... 40 sek and a coupon for a free sandwich, plus we have quite a lot of blood here, I think it is only 0-blood that we lack.

Then again I am a universal vampire (AB-) that only thinks of himself.

I get a free sammich? To the hospital!

 

[Aidinthel]

I get a free sammich? To the hospital!

I assume it's a universal characteristic of blood donation clinics that they offer as many free snacks as you want. The cookies are my favorite part of giving blood; I always stuff my pockets afterward.

 

[SilentCom]

It is donating not doning, also I won't because I've graduated and don't really want to go out of my way to donate blood. I'm pretty sure they aren't short on blood or donations.

 

[dave1004]

I have O- blood, but I don't know if they will let me donate. I weigh about 106 pounds, and they tend to have weight limits. If I can, I will, but I live about 80-90 miles from the nearest hospital, so...Yeah.

 

[demoman_chaos]

Nope, I prefer to keep the red stuff on the inside if at all possible.
Unless I score a sweet Transfomers band-aid, that might be worth it.

 

[Jessabi]

I'm a blood and organ donor already, althought it's probably time for me to give blood again.

 

[Agayek]

I probably should soon, and I've done it before. I'm big enough that I can give 3-4 pints of blood and not notice. Problem is, I've no idea where the donor clinics are and I just don't care enough to find them.

 

[tigermilk]

So any chance I can convince anyone on here to go blood doning soon? Regardless of country donor levels are pretty low at the moment and it's becoming a pretty bad issue.

I donate three pints a year. So no you can't convince me to give blood for about two and a half months.

Great thread though, hopefully it encourages more people to help.

 

[Pikeperch]

I just started giving blood recently; I did my first time about seven weeks ago. They have a bus that comes up to the university where I work, so it's really convenient. The free sandwiches and snacks afterwards don't hurt, and then you also get either a glass or mug, or you can just put in a donation to cancer research or similar.

 

[KingHodor]

Sorry, no. There's too many rumours of selling blood in Serbia and I don't trust our health care system at all, I've been sick several times and they're ridiculously incompetent on every imaginable level and don't give two shits about any patient.

Selling surplus blood is a common practice among blood banks pretty much every where, and I honestly don't see the problem - blood can't be stored "for a rainy day" forever, and I don't have a problem with the notoriously underfunded healthcare system making a bit of money. Plus, whoever is actually buying all the blood is probably going to use it for some sort of medicinal purpose (granted, after watching "A Serbian Film", I would trust the Serbian authorities to use that blood for the opening scene in their snuff porno version of "Blade" )

Edit: Gave blood three times and would very much like to do it again, can't though because I currently have to take a number of meds for a chronic condition.

 

[Vrach]

Sorry, no. There's too many rumours of selling blood in Serbia and I don't trust our health care system at all, I've been sick several times and they're ridiculously incompetent on every imaginable level and don't give two shits about any patient.

Selling surplus blood is a common practice among blood banks pretty much every where, and I honestly don't see the problem - blood can't be stored "for a rainy day" forever, and I don't have a problem with the notoriously underfunded healthcare system making a bit of money. Plus, whoever is actually buying all the blood is probably going to use it for some sort of medicinal purpose (granted, after watching "A Serbian Film", I would trust the Serbian authorities to use that blood for the opening scene in their snuff porno version of "Blade" )

Nah, what I mean is the illegal selling of blood when there's people in need of it. But I'm not so fussed about that as much as I am about the utter incompetence of our health system as a whole. I could tell you stories, but let's just sum it up with a simple "they're an incompetent bunch of fuckwits" and leave it at that.

 

[AdmiralMemo]

I do on an occasional basis, though I haven't recently. I don't have any specific plans to do so in the near future (depending on how you define "near") but I might.

 

[Odbarc]

Isn't O the most common blood type? How are you low on that? Unless hospitals just give people O if they don't know what blood to give them.

O- is what all hospitals keep ready as much as they can. An O- person can only receive O-, and O- is the only thing that can be safely given when blood is needed too quickly to type (for example, incoming ER patient with massive trama and blood loss)

Why can't they just vacuum up their bled out blood and put that back in them? It's theirs. Perfect match.

 

[TehCookie]

I can't be arsed to go to them. During high school I gave blood whenever they came. For some reason they don't seem to go to colleges so I haven't given any. If I saw them set up somewhere I would though.