I’ve had a little of a debate with a commenter recently where they’ve argued that “donating” (selling, in their words, because you can get money for it) your blood plasma is a scam because it’s for-profit and you’re being exploited.
Now, I only have my German lense to look at this, but I’ve been under the impression that donating blood, plasma, thrombocytes, bone marrow, whatever, is a good thing because you can help an individual in need. I get that, in the case of blood plasma, the companies paying people for their donations must make some kind of profit off that, else they wouldn’t be able to afford paying around 25€ per donation. But I’m not sure if I’d call that a scam. People are all-around, usually, too selfish and self-centered to do things out of the goodness of their hearts, so offering some form of compensation seems like a good idea to me.
In the past, I’ve had my local hospital call me asking for a blood donation, for example, because of an upcoming surgery of a hospitalised kid that shares my blood group. I got money for that too.
What are your guys’ thoughts on the matter? Should it be on donation-basis only and cut out all incentives - monetary or otherwise? Is it fine to get some form of compensation for the donation?
Very curious to see what you think
Considering you said you’re german, I think the whole Idea of “Ehrenamt” and subsidiaries of it runs counter to the entire system that has been built. If we monetize everything, I think it’s fine that people get paid for taking time out of their day and bodies to do good shit.
Basically, don’t do unpaid labour in this system?
U.S. here. I “donate” blood regularly to Vitalant. I enjoy the way they do it. You get “points” or often something free for donating (shirts, your name in their sweepstakes to win something large, etc.). You can use the points to redeem gift cards or choose to “donate” the gift card amount back to the organization.
My thoughts: I think these organizations have more donors when they offer compensation, even small vs if they did not. I saw Red Cross offer a chance to win a PS5 once and I’m quite sure it caught some peoples attention and earned them more first time donors -> potential long-term donors.
Well, that’s a new thought. Donating blood is necessary, so we get paid by the Red Cross to do it, in money or a small meal. But the Red Cross then immediately upsells that blood to the hospitals that need it. In a sense, we are exploited workers without a contract.
The real reason donating blood is unethical is because we cannot unionize.
I wouldn’t mind it for that reason. The Red Cross do good work that need to be financed.
Here in the Netherlands they do that by contracting out volunteers for first aid services to events like fairs and runs. The volunteer donates their time, gets trained for free, the Red Cross gets paid by the organiser and makes money for their mission and an small army of experienced first aid people and EMTs to help out when disaster strikes.
I’m such a volunteer and it’s a great distraction from my normal job. I also get to use my skills outside of the Red Cross, e.g. as an action medic at protests.
Cool sidenote: there’s this network any CPR certified person can join to get alerted by emergency dispatch when CPR is needed close to your home or work. This has helped massively to get CPR started within 6 minutes mostly anywhere in the country, even when ambulances can’t get there that quickly.
I side with you. I’ve donated over a gallon of blood and blood products throughout the years. You’re helping someone. The reason they pay you is to incentivize coming and doing it. It’s painful for the donor, and it takes a while for your body to recover. The company doing so is (in my experience, anyway) a non-profit organization. They exist to help people. They do make money, but that’s because they have to pay their employees and donors, as you’ve mentioned.
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Even if it is for profit, it can still be used to save someone’s life.
I don’t have a problem with a for profit model as we live in a monetary system and every donation requires a paid staff and medical supplies as well as a donor’s time and willingness as donating is not without some risk.
It is the infinite profit model that is a problem. The immoral example would be sucking every penny out of patients for blood coming from completely free donations. Or worse, requiring people to pay to donate and manipulating them into doing it.
Preaching to the choir, bud
I’m agreeing with and expanding on what you said. It’s an open forum; that’s how conversations work.
Did what I say offend you? I wasn’t being snarky. I was agreeing with you and had nothing further to add
No, sorry, I thought you were being snarky.
Nah friend. I agree with you 100%
In France you’re not paid for your donation, well, it is a donation, but the organization collecting it is kind of for profit as they are not entirely relying on public funds. The blood and plasma are still going to save lives so I’ll continue
O- here. I frequently get called up when the red cross needs donations. We don’t get paid either but it’s an hour I’m off work and it does save lives.
Hello fellow universal donor. I’m blessed with the same blood type, so I donate the blood when I can at my local hospital. Usually 3x a year.
At first there was not much thought behind it, as both my parents went there too. When I turned 18 they just asked: “Do you want to go too?” And my answer was obviously yes, because why not? It was day off school, after all.
Now it’s just automatic. Since I only donate in my local hospital (small town, 15k people) I believe my blood gets to help people. They don’t pay for it, it’s volunteer, organized by red cross. They used to cover bus ride, but lately switched that for “food stamp” instead. We also get juice, coffee and snack once donated. The good part is, it’s still day off work where I live.
If your blood plasma helps save somebody’s life, either directly as an infusion or indirectly in research, that’s not a scam. The monetary reward is compensation for time and an incentive to try to meet demand. The donation is free, but the time and energy required to make the donation are an expense. That’s what the compensation covers. It’s only a scam if your donation goes to feed a literal or wannabe vampire or their bathing fetish.
Yeah, but it can still be exploitation even if it’s not a scam. I don’t know near enough to say it is, just that it could be.
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@kurcatovium@lemm.ee
I think it’s fine to pay some for it.
I don’t know how your healthcare system is structured. But let’s assume there is a profit motive in getting you to donate blood. Let’s also assume profit is a problem. So we want to reduce profits.
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If you get €25 per donation that is €25 less profit for them per donation.
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The demand for blood is going to stay the same. No one will decline a live saving surgery because it’s a bit expensive and will pay anything to get it. Increasing supply will decrease profit margins.
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Selling your body
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Getting a flat rate compensation of expense isn’t really selling though. I think thats a bit too polemical.
Yeah, it’s technically illegal to sell blood and plasma but they get around this by paying you for your time instead. Gee, I wonder why this loophole doesn’t work for prostitution.
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