Asklemmy

Anytime we ask questions about poor people doing things to make a buck, you probably won't find me talking negatively or blaming the people with few to no options.

I've been in a financial situation where selling my blood plasma was an easy, safe, guaranteed amount of money that kept me from getting deeper into the hole. I'm not going to knock anyone who does it, only the shitty social services that fail people to the point they have to sell their plasma to survive.

If they see it as a scam then they seem to expect certain financial gain from donating. In my opinion this is bad as donating life-saving goods should not be done just for the money.

You can't be scammed if you are doing it for saving lifes (except if they sell the blood to some shady labs instead hospitals).

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.

In the US, AFAIK you can't get paid for whole blood. If you did, you would have to be paid significantly more than they pay for plasma, given that you can only do whole blood every two months.

To the question, it's not a "scam" by any conventional definition. You are getting real money in return for the plasma.

The problem with the whole system is that if there was no payment for plasma, there wouldn't be nearly enough people donating plasma for the need that there is. (You're typically looking at 1+ hour per session, 2x/week.) That doesn't include whatever travel time is involved. That's a pretty steep time commitment every week for something that's a very nebulous public good.

I think a better question is, is the amount that you're being compensated fair and reasonable? Give the profit margins that are involved in products made from blood plasma, my inclination is that it is not a fair and reasonable amount. Plasma centers in my area vary in how much they pay, but it's typically in the neighborhood of $50-$75 (USD); in other parts it's lower, and in some areas it's significantly higher. It's clear that they can pay more, but choose not to because it increases their profit margin. That is something I have a problem with.

Never heard anyone getting payed for donating anything in Germany. You can get an compensation for expenses, yes. But this is not supposed to be a payment for your donation, it is supposed to compensate for your expenses. For example: Finding a babysitter or paying for bus, train, gas. Sometimes you have to make a medical examination beforehand, which also can take some time.

The German Red Cross for example explicitly doesn’t pay the donors so nobody gets the wrong idea and tries to donate as much and often at the cost of their own health.

I think the idea that a compensation is equal to a payment is flawed beyond reason. If someone has a problem with any organisation misusing donations for profit, they should (rightfully) engage in changing the law. Categorically not donating at all is…well it’s just selfish and stupid.

In the UK it's illegal to pay blood or plasma donors, and I think the only time we've had a shortage is due to a cyber attack.

I think they do give you a medal or something after donating a certain number of times though.

In order to answer this, I'd need to compare the efficacy of both the for-profit and the non-profit organizations. In some countries you don't get paid, and I don't know if that leads to blood shortages.

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.

People are getting paid to donate plasma?! The only scam here is that I've been giving it away for free!

I donate to the Red Cross here in America. Honestly, I'm happy to donate. I get to sit and relax for a couple hours, the Red Cross I go to has TVs attached to the chairs so I can watch a movie while I donate, and I get free drinks and snacks afterward.

They're always hurting for plasma donations and you can donate every 28 days, so I visit frequently. I don't really see how it could be a scam. They always tell me plasma is more important than blood donations. Blood goes bad quickly, but they can keep plasma for a long time. And pretty much everyone can use it. Unlike blood, which you need a compatible type to use.

I donate because I enjoy helping others. I'm not looking for a way to personally benefit from it, so I don't really care if they offer to pay or not. I feel like that should be the default mindset going in. But I understand there are people who are hurting financially, and donating blood or plasma is an easy way to make a buck. So I'm fine with them offering to pay for donations.

Tissue, cell and organ donation (including blood, semen and oocytes) can and should be done strictly not-for-profit. This is how it's done in Spain (well, you do get a snack when donating blood and a small amount of money for oocytes since the process is quite long) and there's usually no shortage of blood components in hospitals. Local governments do a lot of campaigning, set up mobile units etc., which seems to work; people see all of that, think of it when planning their day, and many even go in small groups to donate.

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.

Donate to a non-profit organization, that's well audited and regulated, that's not a problem.

Donating to a for-profit organization is a huge problem. The incentives are all misaligned. And should not be encouraged.

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

Even if it is for profit, it can still be used to save someone's life.

If you get paid it ain't a donation. It is trading human body parts