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See the original image at nytimes.com

Despite $21M in fines, Red Cross still fails blood handling

nytimes.com — The problems, described in more than a dozen publicly available F.D.A. reports — some of which cite hundreds of lapses — include shortcomings in screening donors for possible exposure to diseases; failures to spend enough time swabbing arms before inserting needles; failures to test for syphilis; and failures to discard deficient blood.

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  • Narrwald, on 07/18/2008, -0/+18I give blood every time there's a drive. I've never noticed anything that would frighten me if I were to receive blood.
  • elblinguino, on 07/18/2008, -10/+1and all of a sudden Jehovah's Witnesses don't seem so crazy
  • googooly, on 07/18/2008, -1/+11I just gave blood yesterday

    : ¬ |
  • h4mx0r, on 07/18/2008, -0/+6I donated blood to the Red Cross a few months ago... I hope it was well used. I was considering donating again in the near future...
  • tarley, on 07/18/2008, -5/+6I hope you aren't planning on being in a car accident soon MrBabyMan...
  • zyklon, on 07/18/2008, -1/+4I feel fantastic knowing that I donate blood.
  • Jenadae, on 07/18/2008, -1/+12Well that explains why 3 years after a huge blood drive due to the hurricanes, we in Florida are now experiencing over 2000% more syphilis cases then previous years...
    • amoirae, on 07/18/2008, -0/+7Mark Foley has had more free time to spread the love.
  • belfastbiker, on 07/18/2008, -0/+14What is fining them going to achieve?
    • poiuytrewq44, on 07/18/2008, -1/+9maybe some sort of restitution to the victims? syphilis can be deadly.
    • stoppedcode12, on 07/18/2008, -2/+3It puts a price on how badly they want to stop spreading syphilis. (Which is not very?)

      This is also a case where you'd want to run a vital health organization (blood services) publicly, not privately.
  • trekie1701, on 07/18/2008, -1/+3I've given blood a couple of times now and there hasn't been any lapses in procedure yet, In New England, at least, the blood is well taken care of and hopefully is given to the needy as fast as possible.
  • wukillabee, on 07/18/2008, -3/+1what a bunch of idiots, why dont they check the blood for std's ? IDIOTS!!! i wouldnt want blood from other people, keep your diseases to yourselfs
  • NecroSexy, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2And what is your name?
    -Caligula.
    I think I'm going to go with my instincts on this one--hop aboard! *draws needle*
  • yurishoujo, on 07/18/2008, -0/+7Part of the problem is their methods haven't been updated in forever. I also wonder what exactly the FDA finds "adequate" since it's the FDA's fault homosexual men can't give blood because it's somehow a risk for AIDS (nevermind that young women are the fastest growing group of people getting HIV, and that whole gays are the only ones with AIDS nonsense is utter *****.) Things need to be fixed, but half the time the FDA is as inept as Red Cross is being described as. I'd like to see more documented errors before totally condemning the Red Cross.
  • crossmr, on 07/18/2008, -1/+5Despite repeatedly being called out MrBabyman still dupes submissions...
    it is funny how you can generate headlines..
  • m0rphling, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2United Blood Services > Red Cross

    IMHO
  • peppaz, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1How 'bout STFU government, and train them with that 21 million dollars.
  • barc0001, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2Love the 21 million dollar fine idea. Nothing teaches charities to spend more of their strained budgets on training deficiencies than taking money away from them.. er.. wait...
  • samcrut, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1hmmm... Soon after the Red Cross releases docs accusing the US government of war crimes, the hatchet jobs come out.
  • Bloodboiler, on 07/18/2008, -1/+0Interesting how it's The AMERICAN Red Cross in every mentioning when they do something good and just The Red Cross when The AMERICAN Red Cross ***** up. I'm just saying that it's the American Red Cross that's screwing up, not the International Red Cross.
    • Xondar, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1Except for the fact that the Red Cross in Canada isn't even allowed to handle blood donation anymore when they allowed the supply to get tainted with HIV and AIDS.
  • kingp, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1This dude I knew in High School donated blood once. They hooked him up and then the nurses went to tend to others. They left him hooked up for (I think) an hour. His blood collection bag was about to burst when they finally came back around to him.
  • RationalXubrnce, on 07/18/2008, -0/+2 My aunt works in disaster relief and says the Red Cross is terribly run and most of the money you give them for a disaster will be spent elsewhere around the world as they please and not for the event you intended. And wasted at that. She advises giving to Salvation Army who are first rate.
  • FLUX, on 07/18/2008, -0/+1Donating blood is one of the longest running money scams of all time . They get you to give your blood freely but the red cross sells it for outrageous prices to the hospitals who mark it up even more, and to top things off at least you used to be guaranteed free blood for you if you gave but no more now your supposed to give blood the red cross so they can sell your own blood back to you in case of an accident . I quit giving blood and never will again The Red Cross is still the same greedy bastards they were after 911 grabbing your money or blood for profit to pay their managers and local presidents hundreds of thousands of dollars and give only pennies for every dollar you donate

    Hey Red Cross you want to have plenty of blood pay us like plasma centers do then you will have all you need don't expect us to keep getting screwed
  • unfairunbalance, on 07/18/2008, -0/+0The government can taint the blood with HIV/AIDS they had developed at Ft. Dietrich Mayland.
    http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PT ...
    http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PT ...
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