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

    • flashgnash@lemm.ee
      ·
      4 days ago

      Do they not just... test the blood before they use it anyway? You'd think they'd want to do that regardless

      • eldavi@lemmy.ml
        ·
        3 days ago

        tests have been available since the 1980's; they just don't want gays there.

    • Piece_Maker@feddit.uk
      ·
      3 days ago

      I found out not long ago that I can't donate blood in the US because I'm British and lived here during the 1990's so could theoretically be carrying mad cow disease.

    • mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml
      ·
      4 days ago

      It’s fucking discriminatory in my opinion and it has always made me uncomfortable filling out the blood donation paperwork.

      We can reliably screen for HIV (all blood donations are) why the fuck are homosexuals discriminated against over this.

      • eldavi@lemmy.ml
        ·
        3 days ago

        bigotry exists in all forms; but it's only the kind expressed by the uneducated & poor that gets rebuke and this one has been committed in plain sight since the 1980's by the wealthy and educated.