Rationing Blood - the Universal Martyr Posted: 05-07-07 15:57pm
Every time there is
bad weather or a holiday, they are always
saying there is a critical blood shortage,
and no matter where it happens, it is
always Type 0-negative they run out of
first because it is the universal donor.
Whenever someone comes into an emergency
room and there is not time, or if nobody
has bothered to type their blood, they
give them Type 0 negative, which is why
they are always running out of it. Then
they will put on a news report saying they
are "rationing" it, but I have never seen
an explanation of what "rationing" means,
except for one paper on medical ethics
that seemed to suggest that the ethical
thing to do was to let an O-neg patient
who needed a lot of blood die because they
needed to save that blood type for other
people. I am Type 0 negative. I used to
give blood a lot. The red cross would ring
my phone off the hook the first day that I
was eligible to donate again. O-negs
donate at a higher rate than the average
person. So does that make us kind,
wonderful people, or suckers who are bled
dry and left to die in an emergency? I
was living in another country when I got
pregnant and my doctor told me to go home,
because they said if I had an emergency in
childbirth, and I needed clean O-neg
blood, there was no way I was going to
find any. I suspect that the reason I
cannot find an explanation of what
"rationing" means is that they don't want
the O-negative universal martyrs to quit
donating. Why can't everyone have their
blood type tattooed behind their ear at
birth, then we would never have a
shortage, or at least it would not all
fall on a tiny part of the population.
Blood donating is one of the most blessing
things that someone can do. Each blood
donation means saving someone's life.
Government should support and stimulate
free blood donating and free blood-donors
by giving them privileges when using
health services.
The problem you are talking about is
basically due to the shortage of supplies
with 0- blood type. Your proposal about
blood type tattoo could be very useful but
also somehow stigmatizes the people. Data
about the blood type can be also written
on the driving license, social security
card, passport etc.
Every time there is
bad weather or a holiday, they are always
saying there is a critical blood shortage,
and no matter where it happens, it is
always Type 0-negative they run out of
first because it is the universal donor.
Whenever someone comes into an emergency
room and there is not time, or if nobody
has bothered to type their blood, they
give them Type 0 negative, which is why
they are always running out of it. Then
they will put on a news report saying they
are "rationing" it, but I have never seen
an explanation of what "rationing" means,
except for one paper on medical ethics
that seemed to suggest that the ethical
thing to do was to let an O-neg patient
who needed a lot of blood die because they
needed to save that blood type for other
people. I am Type 0 negative. I used to
give blood a lot. The red cross would ring
my phone off the hook the first day that I
was eligible to donate again. O-negs
donate at a higher rate than the average
person. So does that make us kind,
wonderful people, or suckers who are bled
dry and left to die in an emergency? I
was living in another country when I got
pregnant and my doctor told me to go home,
because they said if I had an emergency in
childbirth, and I needed clean O-neg
blood, there was no way I was going to
find any. I suspect that the reason I
cannot find an explanation of what
"rationing" means is that they don't want
the O-negative universal martyrs to quit
donating. Why can't everyone have their
blood type tattooed behind their ear at
birth, then we would never have a
shortage, or at least it would not all
fall on a tiny part of the population.
