Even though it's stupid, don't lie.

mrsconn23

Dear Prudence,
I have lived in the U.S. since I was 10. I am a citizen and consider myself as red-blooded an American patriot as the next girl. I also give blood regularly. Every few months, there is a blood drive at my office building. The appointment system online includes a precheck to see if you’re eligible to donate, and one of the questions is: “Have you lived in Europe for more than five years?” My answer is “Yes,” so I am disqualified. I looked this up, and it has to do with the prevalence of mad cow disease there. Since I’ve lived in America for two-thirds of my life, my question is: Should I lie on the precheck and donate blood anyway?

—Non-American Blood

bleve0821

I read somewhere that vCJD can remain dormant for years before manifesting itself.  I don't remember where, when, or how much truth there is to this, so I did a quick Google search, and I found this charming little tidbit on the Red Cross website:

"There is no test for CJD that could be used to screen blood donors. This means that blood programs must take special precautions to keep CJD out of the blood supply by not taking blood donations from those who might have acquired this infection."

It's possible she could have a latent infection and pass it on to someone else by lying in a misguided effort to donate blood.  She could just make a financial contribution instead.

VarunaTT

NO.

I hope the rest of my day is this easy.

lembaslover

I feel bad for this girl but ultimately it is wrong to lie. Sure the chances are probably low that she can pass anything but if she did it'd be really awful.

I can't donate because while it's a very small amount left I do have cancer still so I am also disqualified. I always used to give it before my diagnosis so it was a big bummer to find out I'm no longer eligible. My work does blood drives too and honestly I find it obnoxious. I've come in and found reminders to donate on my chair at work and signs all throughout the building and even people approaching me asking why I'm not signed up to donate. I get that the Red Cross needs blood but they won't accept mine and it's kind of hurtful to keep rubbing it in my face. At least at work a lot of it has died down, it only took me telling a few people why I'm not signed up for them to stop asking and to pass by my chair when handing out fliers.

glasgowtolondon

I get it. I used to give blood regularly but with my travel schedule at work I'm in India every 8wks. That disqualifies me so I'm no longer able to donate. I wish I still could but I'm not going to lie about it. That's just stupid. I mean, I'm sure there is something else she could do to feel like she is helping people. LW needs to get a grip.

*Barbie*

I had a bad experience trying to donate years ago and won't do it now. (If I even could - I'm borderline anemic, so if my iron is a little low that day, they would disqualify me, anyways.) The work blood drives annoy the crap out of me too - I have my e-mail set up to send all of the blood drive e-mails directly to trash. 

marriedhamstermom said:

 My work does blood drives too and honestly I find it obnoxious. I've come in and found reminders to donate on my chair at work and signs all throughout the building and even people approaching me asking why I'm not signed up to donate. 

I don't think she should lie - how awful would it be for someone to get a transfusion and then get sick from tainted blood?

MissKittyDanger

Agreeing with title, don't lie!

My H donates blood regularly, but after our honeymoon he had to advise we went to D.R. He's not allowed to donate for a year {malaria} Why take the chance even if they could screen?

bleve0821

...Speaking of blood drives...

JediElizabeth

Yeah, in this case, don't lie.

Similar, but very different: I dated a bi guy exclusively for years, and I technically couldn't give blood because I slept with a man who had slept with another man since 1975 in the last 5 years (I think that's the exact wording). The nurses always told me to lie, because it was such a homophobic question, and one the Red Cross didn't approve of (because of modern HIV screening) but the government required.

As a result, my first instinct is to think all those questions are more politically motivated than not, and roll my eyes at them. The fact that most questions (like this one) actually makes a hell of a lot of sense, but that one taught a lot of activists to be distrustful of them makes it even worse IMHO.

GBCK

how does she donate blood regularly when she's not qualified to donate?

(Says someone who donates regularly)

Some of the rules around disqualification are stupid *cough cough gay sex cough cough*, but there are reasons for a lot of them, and the people receiving blood are vulnerable as fuck, so have to err on the side of DQing people. Need to not donate Mrs. Conn.