It’s capitalism, stupid!
for profit healthcare… and idea by the devil only well received by sociopaths
Can anyone with a medical background explain how DONATING can lead to an adverse reaction?
Is it to do with plasma donations specifically vs. whole blood?
I’m confused and curious.
No medical background, but a regular donor here. Plasma donations involve taking your blood out, separating the plasma, and returning everything else in a continuous process.
This other article about one of the victims indicated that the machine issued 5 high-pressure alerts about this return process, all of which were ignored.
It’s not unusual to get an alert or two. Sometimes there’s a kink in the tubing, or an improperly positioned needle. Sometimes I fall asleep and the pressure drops.
Properly trained staff should know by the nature and frequency of the alerts to terminate the process. In that particular incident, even the machine told them to terminate, but was ignored.
Edit: where I am, for-profit ‘donations’ isn’t a thing. And I’ve never had anything but the highest standards of care. Other commenters are probably right that capitalism is a contributing factor to these incidents.
Ah gotcha! thanks, I didn’t realize there was a “return” stream.
There’s only one needle. So the machine works in multiple suck-return cycles (separation happens simultaneously during return). Roughly every 5-10 minutes. The final return will include a bag of saline to replace the plasma they took.
Which is why one or two warnings are not usually a major concern, as long as the following cycles are okay. But usually after 3 (in my personal experience), they just say, “not your day, come back in two weeks hey?”
That’s interesting. is a one-needle cycle better than say a two needle loop for safety or efficiency?
From the receiving end of the needle, having two streams would likely double the chance of errors happening. Even the best phlebotomist has a bad day. Also, veins often move when you try to stab them.
Not to mention any blood-related equipment are single-use. So the needle, tubes, containers, they all go to a special bin (I hope to be recycled). Doubling up would unnecessarily increase the cost/effort.
I would highly recommend going to your nearest centre and learn by donating yourself! 😀
I think it’s more about shoddy training and oversight of the staff.
That’s what the article mentions
issues with training, proper procedures not being followed
It would be interesting to know which other organizations are handling plasma donations. It sounds like there are other private providers, but, aside from the one bought by Grifols, they aren’t mentioned.
Similarly, it’d be interesting to know what percentage of these procedures Grifols is responsible for. They’re responsible for 25/27 reported incidents, but did they do 99.99% of procedures or 10%?
The other two reactions were reported by Héma-Québec, a non-profit organization, the regulator said. Héma-Québec told CBC it actually reported three during this period.
Good guy HQ being honest.
