Ok or why can’t we donate blood like we do organs? What I mean exactly is why can’t we harvest/drain a newly deceased body off all its blood and platelets? With the amount of people who pass everyday surely there would be enough.
In: Biology
(Speaking purely for the UK, so may vary depending on the country you’re in)
Blood donations are easy with few potential complications. However, there are several things stopping people from donating enough to meet demand:
Time, most donation centres are only open during work hours Monday-Friday, it’s not always possible to take an hour out of work to go. Plus you may feel weak, shaky, dizzy or nauseous from the donation (due to the blood taken or general squeamishness) so going back to work may not be ideal.
Restrictions, sex workers, people who have had sex with sex workers, HIV, Hep B/C, syphilis carriers, IV drug users, pregnant, recent tattoo, cancer/cancer survivor, organ transplant, received blood transfusion, weight, age, and low blood iron to name a few. May only be a small percentage of potential donors but still restricts a lot of people. Plus some of these can mean people are turned away on the day when trying to donate, putting them off coming back.
Fear of needles/blood, a lot of people don’t like needles or blood so for obvious reasons don’t donate. Even a bad experience during actual donation can stop someone becoming a regular donor.
Location, often blood donations are taken in church halls, community centres, or similar venues, lack of public transport, parking, or not being local to the area in general can put people off and link back to time being an issue.
Lack of monetary incentive, many people say they would donate if they were paid for their donations, perhaps a bit selfish but still puts a lot of people off.
Wait between donations, men have to wait 12 weeks and women 16 weeks between donations, so even dedicated donors can only donate 4 times per year. The wait can make people forget, fall when they’re on holiday or otherwise not available.
Religious reasons, some religions don’t allow blood donations or blood transfusions.
On the other side, blood can only be stored for around 30-40 days, 5-7 for platelets, so stockpiles of blood need to be replenished often. There’s also a higher demand for certain blood types, and limited space to store (only 28 blood banks in the UK) so there are logistical factors too.
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