Red Cross Blood Donation Scam

Gadabout believes that blood is a commodity—for the most part. In general, the American medical establishment depends on a plentiful supply of “clean” blood for the survival of many. To fill this need, the public is called upon by the Red Cross for donations from the citizenry under the guise of “citizenship.” The Red Cross, under the leadership of highly paid professionals; advertises, pleas, shames, and operates mobile units to collect blood. But somewhere along the line the cost to recipients skyrockets.

Gadabout does not know how much a hospital charges for a unit of blood, but I bet it is at least $250 (I am willing to take a comment here from an administrative professional). My premise is that if donors where paid for their blood, then there would never be a shortage of blood under NORMAL (commercial) conditions. Gadabout is O negative. If I were to donate a unit of blood once a month for my entire life and if tragedy were to hit me tomorrow, I’d still be paying full price for what I consumed. Think of this—if we were paid for blood, then those, like myself who are Aids and Hep-B free, would be willing to give and give if there was some kind of reciprocity program in place.

So long as overpaid chairman of the Red Cross, overpaid HMO executives, and overpaid hospital administrators lead the medical community, then we are not operating under an umbrella of volunteerism. Thousands of individuals are making serious cash from free blood donations. If blood was treated like a true commodity, the cost per unit might actually decline for the end user. Donation trucks? Gone. Advertising? Gone. Supplies? Stabilized. Fear mongering? Yesterday's news.

Okay, Gadabout, how about disasters, war, and unforecasted events? Well, yes, we donate. Yes, Gadabout has given blood in the past since we do operate under a flawed system, and O neg is a hot commodity. Once, while pulling out of port aboard the USS Blueridge, a mooring line mishap seriously injured 3 sailors. The call was made for O neg and I ran down to medical only to find I was about 10th in line. I was turned away, but would have given that sailor all I could possibly give before expiring myself. And I would do it at a moments notice for other fellow Americans, so long as the recipient wasn’t going to be charged for my blood to fill the pockets of fat cats.

The “establishment” has not exposed the difference between commercial and disaster related blood demands, and because so we find ourselves supporting a skewed market environment. A market that is ripe for money making at the expense of distorting the facts and engendering fear. Shame on you, Red Cross!