Skim through this long FAQ list - only a handful of medications are disallowed and some only need a short waiting period (only 7 days after getting experimental gene therapy you can donate blood!), only a small amount of medical conditions prohibit donation (again, sometimes just a waiting period).
Direct donation from a relative seems much safer but no mention of that on hospitals website or the donate blood site - apparently Red Cross have a monopoly on blood collection in Australia.
General thoughts? Would you or have you or anyone you know accepted a blood donation?
The problem is trauma. You can have blood collected and earmarked for your own use. But this is normally done for planned surgeries. It's expensive to collect and store blood which can only be used for a single person. So it isn't really done on a mass scale where it would be used when you get in a random car accident 3 years from now.
Autologous donations and directed donations are a thing. But how much of that can you store indefinitely? It has a shelf life as well. So you or your donor are going to have to repeatedly donate to make sure you have 5 or 10 pints on hand at all times just in case.
[ - ] Cunt [op] 0 points 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 10:59:46 ago (+0/-0)
Trauma use is a small minority of all blood use, most is for things like cancer patients and non-emergency surgery. I couldn't find anything on directed or self donations on their website or the Australian hospitals websites I checked.
I did find a letter to the editor of the New England Medical Journal that said when people donated for a specific patient 3.4 units were drawn but only 0.7 were used and they donated the rest to the general pool which resulted in a cost savings of $29.17 compared to procuring from an outside source.
Shelf life for whole blood is 6 weeks, plasma was much longer but I forget exactly how much.
Even if you wanted to store it for emergency use you could donate once a month and have them distribute your previous months blood to a stranger at a profit to the collection agency.
[ - ] MrPim 1 point 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 11:33:31 ago (+1/-0)
Oh yeah, I forgot.
Plasma shelf life depends on how its stored. After separation the red cells are stored refrigerated. The plasma can also be stored refrigerated and has a similar shelf life. It can also be blast frozen and stored for like two years. I have seen blast frozen autologous red cells, but that's pretty rare.
It can also just be stored at room temperature and sold to makers of Factor8 and Factor9 blood clotting agent.
[ - ] MrPim 1 point 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 11:26:08 ago (+1/-0)
Maybe things are different in Aus but autologous donations are a thing in the US for planned surgery. It isn't common really but it does exist. For the sake of discussion, this practice would solve this problem for planned surgeries.
That still leaves us trauma. They don't do like you are suggesting although I suppose they could. But this would mean a monthly donation to keep your supply topped up for the emergency trauma and this would only protect you in your general vicinity. Your blood would be collected and stored in your city and could be shipped to local hospitals quickly. If you should get shot while on vacation 2000 miles away you're back to the general supply. Those are pretty good odds though. You're probably not going to get shot while on vacation. Probably.
I wonder if the autologous donations aren't listed on the website because it's only done through a doctors order. If you spoke to your doctor before a planned surgery you may find it does exist. It may just not be on the website because you cant just walk in and request it.
[ - ] MrPim 1 point 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 09:45:35 ago (+1/-0)
You know it just occured to me... Most blood donors are white. Brown people should only be allowed brown people blood. This would almost certainly be better medically. It would leave most of them fucked and bled out but they shouldn't be forced to accept that racist white blood.
[ + ] MrPim
[ - ] MrPim 3 points 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 07:55:26 ago (+3/-0)
Autologous donations and directed donations are a thing. But how much of that can you store indefinitely? It has a shelf life as well. So you or your donor are going to have to repeatedly donate to make sure you have 5 or 10 pints on hand at all times just in case.
[ + ] Cunt
[ - ] Cunt [op] 0 points 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 10:59:46 ago (+0/-0)
I did find a letter to the editor of the New England Medical Journal that said when people donated for a specific patient 3.4 units were drawn but only 0.7 were used and they donated the rest to the general pool which resulted in a cost savings of $29.17 compared to procuring from an outside source.
Shelf life for whole blood is 6 weeks, plasma was much longer but I forget exactly how much.
Even if you wanted to store it for emergency use you could donate once a month and have them distribute your previous months blood to a stranger at a profit to the collection agency.
[ + ] MrPim
[ - ] MrPim 1 point 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 11:33:31 ago (+1/-0)
Plasma shelf life depends on how its stored. After separation the red cells are stored refrigerated. The plasma can also be stored refrigerated and has a similar shelf life. It can also be blast frozen and stored for like two years. I have seen blast frozen autologous red cells, but that's pretty rare.
It can also just be stored at room temperature and sold to makers of Factor8 and Factor9 blood clotting agent.
[ + ] MrPim
[ - ] MrPim 1 point 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 11:26:08 ago (+1/-0)
That still leaves us trauma. They don't do like you are suggesting although I suppose they could. But this would mean a monthly donation to keep your supply topped up for the emergency trauma and this would only protect you in your general vicinity. Your blood would be collected and stored in your city and could be shipped to local hospitals quickly. If you should get shot while on vacation 2000 miles away you're back to the general supply. Those are pretty good odds though. You're probably not going to get shot while on vacation. Probably.
I wonder if the autologous donations aren't listed on the website because it's only done through a doctors order. If you spoke to your doctor before a planned surgery you may find it does exist. It may just not be on the website because you cant just walk in and request it.
[ + ] Cunt
[ - ] Cunt [op] 0 points 3.0 yearsApr 27, 2021 20:20:49 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] MrPim
[ - ] MrPim 0 points 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 11:44:17 ago (+0/-0)
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[ - ] Tallest_Skil 1 point 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 10:33:24 ago (+1/-0)
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[ - ] Cunt [op] 1 point 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 11:02:51 ago (+1/-0)
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[ - ] MrPim 1 point 3 yearsApr 27, 2021 09:45:35 ago (+1/-0)