Over the past month, I’ve gotten 8 texts and calls from a New Jersey based number offering to pay me for part of my body, which frankly, sounds super sketchy. However, this number is actually the donation outreach line for a national plasma collector, offering to pay about $50 for 800mL of blood plasma.
In most countries around the world, it is illegal for someone to receive money in exchange for an organ such as a kidney. These laws exist to protect informed consent of donors, and to prevent exploitation of the poor for their body parts. However, plasma donors are paid, and disproportionately poor, in America (Farrugia, Penrod,and Bult, 2010).
At the same time, blood plasma is vital in the treatment of conditions ranging from cancers to hemophilia, as well as for clinical research (Farrugia, Penrod,and Bult, 2014). Plasma also plays a role in treatments for COVID-19, meaning that donations are more important than ever (Garraud, Farrugia, and Tissot, 2021).
A more ethical approach to plasma donation may be to mirror blood donation and not compensate donors, however, that would result in fewer donors, and as plasma collection becomes more controlled by private corporations, this approach is less likely to be adopted (Farrugia, Penrod,and Bult, 2014).
For my part, I plan to donate plasma in the future, and will take advantage of the monetary compensation, but it is important to keep in mind that the current system is imperfect at best.
Works Cited
Farrugia, A., Penrod, J., & Bult, J. M. (2010). Payment, compensation and replacement - the ethics and motivation of blood and plasma donation. Vox Sanguinis, 99(3), 202–211. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1423-0410.2010.01360.x
Farrugia, A., Penrod, J., & Bult, J. M. (2014). The Ethics of Paid Plasma Donation: A Plea for Patient Centeredness. HEC Forum, 27(4), 417–429. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10730-014-9253-5
Garraud, O., Farrugia, A., & Tissot, J. D. (2021). Is plasma donation ethics abused? Transfusion Clinique et Biologique, 28(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tracli.2020.12.006
Plasma donations should be taken advantage of, considering the compensations and the benefits to patients suffering from disease. I think this is an interesting point considering plasma donation has become popular with covid-19 cases.
ReplyDeleteCCP (COVID-19 convalescent plasma) donations have been studied and utilized throughout the pandemic. Early CCP donation has been associated with a better outcome for severely ill covid patients. Patients that received CCP 50% lower chance of hospital mortality, as well as lower chance of mortality within 14 days. 40% of these patients were on a mechanical ventilator. It has been proven that CCP transfusions assist with the recovery and lower mortality rate of COVID-19 patients.
Not only do you have the potential to save a life, but you also get paid for having covid!
Briggs, N., Gormally, M. V., Li, F., Browning, S. L., Treggiari, M. M., Morrison, A., Laurent-Rolle, M., Deng, Y., Hendrickson, J. E., Tormey, C. A., & Desruisseaux, M. S. (2021). Early but not late convalescent plasma is associated with better survival in moderate-to-severe COVID-19. PLoS ONE, 16(7), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254453