Emergency Best Posts in Thread: A neg. blood needed in NOPH

The restrictions make sense when there is appropriate blood (or donors) available in an emergency. Personally, if it came to life or death if I don't get the moderately rare blood type I need, I think I would want to take the chance on a donor who MAY have been exposed to Mad Cow in 1982 (and is still alive to tell about it) rather than definitely die from lack of an available transfusion.

 

I posted here asking anyone interested to contact me and I would create a list of available donors for each blood group.

No one has replied.

The conclusion is that the blood group shown on the profile (and perhaps also the 'Blood Donor' label) is NOT an indicator of willingness/ability to donate. As @Philpots wrote above, age is a deterrent factor. Also, some have histories of living in areas where a risk was created (as in the UK with CJD) or had an actual illness which stops their blood being accepted.

Also, I think possibly some people prefer to keep their blood for a family member or friend - that is understandable. One reason I believe people think like that is that when I also offered to produce a list of tradesmen, again not one person replied. It probably means that if someone knows a good tradesman they are worried that when they need him he will be too busy if they tell the whole world! Similarly, if they give away their blood one day and a family member or close friend needs it very soon afterwards, their blood will not be available to help. Very understandable to think like that.

But when I created a list of good medical professionals I had an extremely good response - as people know they can still see a doctor even if others know about that particular doctor. So things people see as limited and so, when needed urgently, may not be available, they keep to themselves. Just human nature.