Asklemmy

I think that the commenter lives in a country with for-profit hospitals. In Europe hospitals get subsidized so they all make good money and aren't driven to pursue profits. Prices are being kept low because of taxes and social health care. There are some for profit hospitals, but not many.

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.

1. If you get €25 per donation that is €25 less profit for them per donation.

2. 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.

I've donated blood and plasma and each time I've been offered rewards but don't bother claiming them. I do it to help others. My job pays me enough to live on.

How could selling something you naturally produce be a scam? I can see how easily you could get ripped off on the price, but in the end you're still making money and automatically replacing the plasma lost. Even if they're not actually using the plasma for their stated purpose, I'd still argue the donator is not the one getting scammed. I guess it really comes down to your definition of "scam".

Donating blood/plasma is a good thing. Economic conditions in which poor people feel obligated to give blood just to make enough money, whilst rich people don't feel this same pressure, are bad.

I don't know how exactly private blood banks work (in plenty of countries blood banks are public and presumably non-profit), but regardless, I assume nobody can get blood transfusions if nobody donates. So until the political system is overhauled just keep donating? Your blood donations aren't the root cause of capitalism

I donate plasma regularly - at least once per month. It’s illegal to pay people for blood or plasma here in the Netherlands so I’m just in it for the good feels. I also like the downtime and relaxed chatting and joking with the people who work there.

I've donated plenty of times, because it makes sense that there is no other way to save lives than to donate.

On the other hand, I've been wondering for years, that while I've been told a million times that "blood reserves are low - donate blood now!", I've not ever heard that a single person died due to lack of available blood.
Why would something like that not be reported if you want to motivate people to donate?

My personal guess is that this comes because "lack of avaiable blood donations" isn't a valid cause of death, the cause of death is whatever else (gun shot wound, knife severed artery / complication during surgery etc), thus it's hard to pinpoint. Also Doctors may try to "save" blood, when they know little is available, and people may die that may have lived if they had gotten (more) blood, but also they may not have and it is hard to tell.

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.

You lack the cultural lens of America. About half of our country governs from the perspective of "why should I?" with the most negative and self-preserving mindset possible.

Why should I pay for others healthcare, even if it means they pay for mine? Why should I donate my blood if it doesn't benefit me?

Solve that problem by giving you $25-100 for your "donations"

@[email protected]