Blood Will Kill You Without the FDA
Blood can kill. That is absolutely the truth. Coming from my medical science background, blood can be extremely dangerous if not treated with care.
So when I tell you that the nomination Trump has of RFK Jr’s appointment to Health and Human Services should frighten you, not only because of the potential threat to lifesaving and disease-abating vaccines and our food production standards, but how this might harm you and your family in the case you might need live-saving treatment.
I’m talking blood.
I work in a Trauma 1 center, meaning if you are involved in a serious accident, you might come to me for treatment. Our facility has the capability of housing hundreds of blood units for whatever issue might arise, accidents, transplants surgery, cancer treatments. Our soul purpose is to save your life. Our job in the laboratory here is to screen the cells in units of blood to make sure they are safe to circulate in your body. We are giving life-saving oxygen to your main organs that it is not getting during a crisis. We are providing natural clotting factors to help keep your blood in your body. We are providing soldiers to fight off whatever infection that might occur from blunt force, lacerations, or who even knows what can become toxic to you and your body.
Today, blood has been the safest it has ever been. After donation, donated blood is sent to labs to be screened for numerous illnesses: HIV, Hepatitis, West Nile, for God’s sake. So much screening… and yet, within the last few weeks, our facility filtered calls from nursing staff asking from their patients if our units are from vaccinated donors.
And here we stand now, with an absolute anti-vaccine absurdist standing at the precipice of grand sweeping changes to the FDA that we know.
Blood products, if you didn’t know, are treated like a pharmaceutical product, like any drug or medication, and have had the FDA’s involvement since this classification. An FDA inspection is, honestly, one of a blood bank’s biggest anxieties. All our standards have to be followed exactly as written or we are out of compliance. The FDA will quickly shut down a blood bank if not following SOPs and ensuring safety to the patient.
In only a few months from now, this could all change. If the FDA is not involved in maintain the purity and potency of our blood units, who will?
Let’s quickly run through a scenario, shall we?
You are hurt in an accident, let’s say you go hit on the driver’s side, pinning your leg between metal and your steering wheel. The EMTs get you out, but your leg is in pretty awful shape. They take you to a Trauma 1 hospital, like mine.
Now, you’ve got a pretty deep cut by your femoral artery, which tends to bleed quite a bit. The doctors know that you are going to live, but you’ve lost a lot of blood and will need a transfusion that some wonderful volunteer donated to help you.
You, a rather healthy person other than your leg and a few cuts and bruises, need a transfusion and the unit you get was not tested properly, housed in the correct temperature, or tested with the right reagents, or a multiple of other things that could go wrong if not monitored, I can attest that this unit of blood would not be good for you to receive.
But how would anyone know? It’s not like getting a Pepsi from a vending machine.
Or your wife is battling breast cancer and she receives a unit of platelets that was not regularly tests for bacteria. This platelet with kill her, for sure.
Or your child with hemophilia gets a contaminated infusion of cryoprecipitate.
Or your diabetic uncle gets a plasma pheresis during dialysis and is exposed to hepatitis.
And what about donations as a whole? Who will be allowed to donate? How will vaccinations play a role in the donation process? There are so many scary questions that come to my mind that I can’t even sit still.
The thing about blood is that we all have it, each of us are pumping it right now. This means:
Blood is oxygen
Blood is antibodies
Blood is Red AND Blue
Blood is Black
Blood is Hispanic
Blood is Transgender
Blood is Undocumented
Blood is smarter than you
Blood is deadly
Blood is necessary
And I know what you are all thinking…. this really couldn’t happen. I used to think that, until the unthinkable DID happen and is happening again. I keep thinking there are smart people that will prevent this, but then I’m so surprised by their decisions. We all see the dumpster fire, yet those people involved are either looking at a different fire, basking in its warmth, or grabbing marshmallows.
The truth is, even with how bureaucratic as the FDA may seem, their entire job is to keep us safe. And that is one thing that I am not feeling right now, safe.
This new administration is about revenge, not about the right or safest thing to do. It’s impeding our jobs to save your life. That’s what we are trying to do. So many will die if this moves forward. And I am afraid for all of us.
Citations:
American Association of Blood Banks. www.aabb.org
