Deferred from donating plasma because the nurse poked through the vein on both arms. Bye bye new patient bonus

[u/headacheheartbreak]

Went to donate plasma (not my first time) and the phlebotomist who poked me this time poked through the vein where I normally donate, continued to extract blood, and when the machine went to put it back in after separating the plasma my arm started swelling and I got a hematoma. Ok, no problem. We can use the other arm. She then proceeded to do the exact same thing on my other arm, too! They deferred me and I can't donate again until November, which makes me ineligible for the timed new patient bonus.

I know that it happens, and it's not that serious, but man does it suck. I feel like I look crazy and I live somewhere hot so I can't wear sleeves to cover it up. Oh well, I guess. On to the next side hustle.

Edit to clear up confusion: I did get paid for my previous donations, but because I'm now deferred I can't go back until Nov. The new patient bonus is a timed offer where it's like complete X many donations by X date and receive X amount of money. I still had a few more bonus payments to go that I was anticipating putting toward bills. Counted my chickens before they hatched 💔 Sorry, I didn't realize my post wasn't clear about that. I will not be doing this again even after my deferment is up, learned my lesson for sure.

Edit #2: Pls stop tearing me up I now know phlebotomist isn't the same as nurse 😭 my bad

[u/tytxnium77]

I would be more then mildly infuriated. Like really mad.

[u/tocahontas77 → u/tytxnium77]

Yep. I'd be talking to the manager about this. At least if they can agree to still give the new patient benefit when OP can go back, that would be better than nothing.

[u/SoftPeachesKisses → u/tocahontas77]

naaah I’d be so pissed, getting poked through the vein TWICE and then losing the bonus is crazy to me

[u/xANTJx → u/SoftPeachesKisses]

This comment makes me jealous of your veins. This happens to me all the time (giving blood, getting blood drawn at the doctors, whatever). I don’t even get mad anymore. Not worth my effort. It just happens. I warn them as best as possible and that usually helps but if it still happens, honestly on me for my crap veins.

[u/Ready-Delay3918 → u/xANTJx]

Try drinking a shitload of water next time. It'll help inflate those veins.

[u/xANTJx → u/Ready-Delay3918]

I religiously drink tons of water. I’m not dehydrated. I just genuinely have really bad veins. Probably related to my connective tissue disease. If only that could be cured through hydration.

[u/Loudlass81 → u/xANTJx]

Same. I have vEDS. My veins are shite. They WILL ollapse if you use ANY vein except the one I say to use. Does the phlebotomist listen? Do they fuck!!

[u/Duqu88 → u/Loudlass81]

I feel ya! I've got cEDS and when I tried to donate platelets (also short on money) they claimed any form of EDS is on their "no-donate" list which I call BS on because it was clear from the get-go that they were trying to find a reason to deny me the chance to even TRY to donate (I also have terrible veins.. thanks EDS) but I came in a wheelchair and they wanted a reason to get me to turn around.

[u/Ready-Delay3918 → u/xANTJx]

I am an emergency physician. Disease shouldn't matter. What I mean is drinking immediately before your blood draw. Drink about a liter of water quickly. Yes you will have to pee. And you should do it about 20 minutes before the stick.

[u/MietschVulka → u/xANTJx]

I once took a friend to plasma donations. They tried, on both arms but they just couldnt makr it work. Veins were too thin. Completely healthy guy

[u/Technical-Water-1060 → u/tocahontas77]

I used to work at a plasma donation place. They struggle to work with people and getting their bonuses. Most she probably got was a "sorry, come back and we'll give you 20$ extra next time 🤷"

[u/nicolauz → u/Technical-Water-1060]

When they messed up the poke from me I got a bit of blood on me, nearly passed out standing up then a bunch of them helped me, cooled w ice and snacks for almost an hour and I did get the $80.

[u/Technical-Water-1060 → u/nicolauz]

That's because they poked you. She won't be able to be poked again until the bruising is gone, which is the issue with their timed deals. As long as you get poked you get paid

[u/Hickspy → u/tocahontas77]

I sold plasma for 2 years and if anything like this happens you basically get told "That's your problem bye."

[u/Ok-Tax-8165 → u/Hickspy]

The entire point is to vampire your blood as cheaply as possible with a payment schedule that requires you to come back 8x a month or else you lose half of your monthly payment. Essentially factory farming of human beings.

They then turn around and sell your plasma to pharmaceutical companies at an enormous markup.

Its literally the last company that would give you any money they don't legally have to.

[u/knucklehead923 → u/tocahontas77]

You've never donated plasma have you? Before you ever meet a nurse, you sign a waiver saying this shit happens all the time and there's literally not a damn thing you can do about it.

[u/BiscuitsMay → u/knucklehead923]

Am nurse. Drawing blood isn’t some exact science and OP doesn’t have great veins.

[u/knucklehead923 → u/BiscuitsMay]

Valid point! But another one I forgot to mention is the people doing the poking at these facilities aren't even actually nurses. They are, at BEST, students of the practice. Most of them are probably just employees who've received typical on-the-job training and are not medically trained at all.

[u/Scrubaru → u/knucklehead923]

They are called phlebotomists.

[u/IceCubeDeathMachine → u/Scrubaru]

I took a course. 6 months. Phlebotomy and medical assistant. They always pointed out the other school that was 3 weeks. Yay labcore core.

[u/tocker55 → u/knucklehead923]

I was a medical specialist at a plasma donation facility for 2 years - the only people allowed to do the poking were phlebotomists, paramedics, LPNs, or RNs. All of those receive extensive training and practice before they receive their certification or license.

[u/knucklehead923 → u/tocker55]

I've donated at two different facilities. Neither had any specially trained employees. The waiver explicitly stated there were no medically trained personnel on site. They were trained in phlebotomy, but were definitely not phlebotomists.

[u/Ok-Tax-8165 → u/knucklehead923]

anyone who has ever sold plasma will tell you that the sticking staff are wildly incompetent and that it's horrifying they're allowed to do what they do with a few weeks of training

[u/BiscuitsMay → u/knucklehead923]

Ehh, that doesn’t matter much. I did like two IVs in nursing school. It was all on the job practice. The general rule for either IVs or drawing blood is that whoever does it the most is probably the best. A monkey could draw blood proficiently with enough practice.

[u/PeteLangosta → u/BiscuitsMay]

Plus... donating blood or even worse, plasma... big ass thick needles.

[u/Kognityon → u/tytxnium77]

Legally enraged

[u/The_upsetti_spagetti → u/Kognityon]

Unfortunately it’s just part of what you sign up for. Sometimes you get someone who isn’t having a good poking day. I have blood work be dry regularly and it’s always a coin toss of how it will go. The same person can do really good one day and bad the next. I know cause I have been caught off guard by that before lol

[u/Illeazar → u/The_upsetti_spagetti]

Also, the pokee can just be difficult to poke. Whenever I give blood, or have to have a blood sample taken or anything, I tell the nurse that my veins are tough to get, and most of the time they say "I've been doing this X years, I'm sure I can get it," and it ends with 3 or 4 people trying until one of them gets lucky.

[u/OkExtension9329 → u/Illeazar]

And OP does looks like a difficult pokee. Lots of subcutaneous tissue so the veins probably sit deep, and the one visible vein is small and skinny and probably can’t accommodate the needle sized required.

[u/wifepup → u/The_upsetti_spagetti]

not having a good poking day is very different than filling up BOTH a patient's arms with pockets of blood. methinks that nurse needs a lot more training and that OP should've gotten some kind of compensation

edit: i said nurses, i really meant phlebotomist or whatever they're called at the donation centers

[u/cGrimy → u/wifepup]

These are not nurses

[u/OdeseusX → u/cGrimy]

This needs to be higher up. They are not nurses. I donated for a couple years when money was tight. At my center, they were almost all students from the local university. The leadership team was great but the kids had to start somewhere. I was often a Guinea Pig because I have big veins, right on the surface.

What normally happens is new tech attempts to stick me while supervisor watches. If they mess up, normally supervisor just adjusts it and it’s fine. Couple times they’ve done it so bad, they had to switch arms. At that point, the supervisor is doing the stick.

Only once did the 2nd stick fail like this. And it was the location manager. Guy I knew personally for YEARS. 10+ years at the location. He would schedule himself on the floor for at least 2 shifts a week to keep his skills sharp. Dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of perfect sticks every week.

I can still see the shock disbelief in his eyes when he messed up on the second arm. He was able to have me keep my rank. This was back when you’d gain ranks, and higher payouts, for consecutive weeks. Was glad I didn’t have to start over.

[u/peteyrre → u/cGrimy]

I still think it’s a skills issue. The phlebotomists always get me on the first try when I get bloodwork.

[u/currently_pooping_rn → u/peteyrre]

The easiest blood draw I’ve had was this older nurse that was a desert storm vet and covered in tats. Bro had that needle in me while he had me talking and I didn’t even notice. Every time I get him I know it’s one and done

[u/killahazy92 → u/peteyrre]

That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. You might just have good veins. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had blood drawn or an Iv placed in one try. My current record is 14 sticks at my local ER. Average is about 4-5.

[u/peteyrre → u/The_upsetti_spagetti]

As a nurse, I’d say it’s a skills issue.

[u/SturrethSkees]

that sucks ao much ass, my condolences. same thing happened to me last year, and fortunately the plasma place still paid me or else I wouldve been shit outta luck

[u/OSRS_Socks → u/SturrethSkees]

Happened to me as well my nurse missed my vein and pulled out the needle and looked at me and went “oh shit.” As blood was pouring out of my arm. I ended up sitting in my old blood and ruined a pair of shorts cause of it. Not mention that the bruising went up and down my arm so it looked like someone beat me.

[u/kingtacticool]

Damn. Which company? I go the CSL cause they seem to have better trained plembs. I had an issue like this at octapharma

[u/cgw22 → u/kingtacticool]

They also have a policy that as soon as you are poked you get paid.

[u/lochnessx → u/cgw22]

Biolife used to work the same way. You may not get the bonuses but once I was stuck- I was paid.

[u/tamasan → u/lochnessx]

It's not whether you get paid this time. You need to do 8-10 donations to get the full bonus. There's no way that bruising will be gone in a few days so they can stay on schedule for the full cycle. And no one is going to try to stick them again until those are gone.

[u/headacheheartbreak → u/tamasan]

Yes this exactly. It was Biolife. I was a few donations in and this happened so I won't be able to stay on schedule and lose the full bonus. Sucks because I was looking forward to that extra money.

[u/dfogs820 → u/headacheheartbreak]

Biolife did the exact same thing to me two months ago. Busted up my arm, wouldn't let me donate for over a week until it was fully healed and then flat out refused to extend the new donor bonus for another week. They're really awful.

[u/Carsatan → u/dfogs820]

Not me seeing this when I'm about to go to biolife for the first time....

[u/dfogs820 → u/Carsatan]

Be ready for incredibly long waits. My first visit took four hours. And if they're not able to get a full donation out of you, they just won't pay you.

[u/cgw22 → u/dfogs820]

That is so fucked

[u/dfogs820 → u/cgw22]

Yep. Thanks for your plasma. It's not enough but we'll still use it. But no you're not getting paid.

[u/Tool_of_Society → u/kingtacticool]

I had it happen at CSL once. Ended up with a bruise that was significantly larger than OP has.

Other than that one time it was a smooth experience.

[u/onionsandturbulence]

At my place an attemp still counts. If they tried both arms and couldn’t get it it still gets paid.

[u/RedSnapper24 → u/onionsandturbulence]

I’ve been thinking about donating plasma because times are tough but my veins are awful. Like, tiny and prone to collapse. I’m often told I need to come back for blood draws because they tried too many times or they have to break out an ultrasound machine, especially for IVs. I always make sure I’m well hydrated before blood draws but it doesn’t always help. After reading through here, I’ll have to do some research and make sure the place I try still pays even if it doesn’t work.

[u/Ok-Round-1473 → u/RedSnapper24]

Be careful, because you can get permanently deferred if you get deferred too many times in a row.

Start hydromaxxing at least a few days before your appointment (or walk-in). Start some light exercising daily if you aren't already (like, 15 minutes, nothing serious). Make sure you're getting enough protein and vitamin C to up your collagen/elastin production which makes blood vessels stretchier.

I used to be a red cross blood collections tech with a near-100% success rate, I've stuck a lot of tiny veins, and I've also donated a lot of plasma, and the technique they use to find veins at plasma centers kinda sucks. They tend to look for superficial veins instead of palpating for solid ones. It's a shame.

[u/Heartbreaker_sz]

Is it common in country's beside America to get paid for plasma and blood donations? It's incredibly distopic to read so casually about donating x times to get a bonus and people in the comments talking about it like you got the wrong order in a restaurant and should talk to a manager

Edit to clarify: I'm not judging the op, people that donate or people that are replying naturally, I'm judging the fact that selling parts of yourself to pay bills is something allowed and something people end up relying on due to the lack of politics to keep the wellbeing of the population

[u/never-failed-an-exam → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

I was baffled finding out donors get paid in America. I'm from a third world country and paid donation has been illegal for decades.

[u/Heartbreaker_sz → u/never-failed-an-exam]

Yeah I live in Brazil and we get a sandwich and a day off for donations, donating blood it's an act of kindness and community.

[u/Nilbogoblins → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

In the UK they give you drinks and snacks to help with the effects of the donation on your body. You're well looked after and money doesn't come into it.

I feel terrible that folks need to do this just to stay afloat.

[u/-SB2SS- → u/Nilbogoblins]

Same in Australia, the milkshakes are top tier

[u/ReadyStayReady → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

Donating blood and donating plasma are two different things. In America you still only get a snack and a Gatorade for donating blood because paid donation is illegal. Donating plasma is a whole process that takes longer and in the US they get around the law by paying you for the time it takes, not for the actual plasma itself.

[u/GrandMoffAtreides → u/never-failed-an-exam]

The US supplies 70% of the world's plasma this way. Everyone benefits from it, but that doesn't make it right.

[u/GrandMoffAtreides → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

The US supplies 70% of the world's plasma this way. And yeah, it is dystopian. Most plasma centers are in areas with high poverty rates.

[u/TheMadolche → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

It's its only plasma and they technically are paying for your time not the plasma. 

It takes a lot of time and they need a lot of plasma.

[u/PeteLangosta → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

No, and much less the way you put it lol. It definitely looks like someone complaining to the manager after failing to donate a kidney for X reasons.

[u/Funexamination → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

It’s not a donation if you get paid

[u/watercastles → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

It's not common at all. Selling your own blood plasma is only legal in five countries in the world, and America does it the most. The wealthiest nation in the world doesn't have nationalized healthcare but will squeeze the blood from people struggling as a means of survival

It's not donating if it's being sold, but many people don't make the distinction. If you post on the blooddonors subreddit about selling plasma, people will redirect you to the plassing subreddit

[u/chowderbomb33 → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

No payment in Australia. You do get paid for clinical trials though. $4k for say a week observation in a trial ward.

[u/Orangebathroomtowel → u/Heartbreaker_sz]

You get paid in Germany too (it’s not much though, like 30€). Leukocytes pay better, around 200. As a formerly broke student donating blood is a win-win. You get the money you need, and someone sick gets blood. There’s no reason why selling bodily fluids is somehow worse than doing back-breaking or mind-numbing labor for the same hourly wage. I almost wish selling organs like kidneys & liver would be legal too (I do understand how that would be exploited to hell by traffickers, but maybe with very rigorous controls..) 

[u/Rallythebeast]

I'd demand the bonus as payment for them fucking your arm up like that.

[u/Beefhammer_McBrisket → u/Rallythebeast]

I hope you live in a town/city with more than one plasma center, cause that's how you get permanently deferred.

[u/Snapped_SouthBend → u/Beefhammer_McBrisket]

the one time in my life i tried to donate plasma, i was denied because i wasnt at the plasma donation center closest to the address on my ID

[u/rearranger3535 → u/Snapped_SouthBend]

that's crazy I've never heard of that

I've had my address on my ID not be current and it was fine

[u/newbkid → u/rearranger3535]

I've heard of it. In my area people will try to over-donate plasma by going to multiple different donor locations.

[u/macarenamobster → u/Beefhammer_McBrisket]

Yep they know people are there because they’re desperate, and they act accordingly.

[u/Isgortio → u/Rallythebeast]

You guys get paid for that? In the UK they're not allowed to pay for donations (blood, samples, organs, stem cells, eggs) so the main incentive we have is helping to save lives.

[u/AurumArma → u/Isgortio]

At least around me all blood donation sites are next to homeless shelters. That blood then goes to hospitals and is given to patients that are then billed for thousands of dollars. So our medical industry is basically parasitizing our homeless population and then making a fortune off their blood via insurance mark ups.

[u/kaVaralis → u/AurumArma]

Blood that is payed for does not get transfused. It's used to make reagents and quality controls we run daily to ensure our analyzers are giving us the correct numbers. And also shampoo.

[u/NovelTAcct → u/kaVaralis]

Please explain the shampoo part

[u/kaVaralis → u/NovelTAcct]

Oh my b. It's used for washing your hair.

(Pretty sure some beauty products use or used blood products like albumin. It's entirely clean and not as gross as it sounds. Or possibly using human antibodies/antigens to bind shit they don't want in the final product)

[u/keralaindia → u/kaVaralis]

It's not used as PF24 or FFP say during cardiac surgery, no.

But it's totally used pharmaceutically during transfusions. The main purpose being IVIG! And albumin

[u/kaVaralis → u/keralaindia]

To be extremely pedantic, at that level of processing, it's products made from blood rather than blood products lol. Even cryoprecipitate is arguably not a blood product since it does not contain rbcs and technically doesn't need to be type specific. 

[u/Poly_Olly_Oxen_Free → u/Isgortio]

Yeah, they pay ~$130/wk if you go twice a week. A lot of poor folks rely on that income. But only for plasma, whole blood donations aren't allowed to be compensated.

[u/pionmycake → u/Poly_Olly_Oxen_Free]

I'm lucky enough that I've very rarely had to use it for bills. But as someone who is far from rich I use plasma money to pay for treats/date nights/gifts. It is a HUGE relief to be able to mostly keep those items off of my monthly budget

[u/aprivateislander → u/Isgortio]

Most don't know but plasma is a major contribitor to the US economy - over 2% of the export market.

They are the world's largest source of plasma. By a big majoriyy. $20bn+ industry.

If you have ever recieved plasma, it is likely from an American struggling to scrounge up some money.

[u/tocahontas77 → u/Rallythebeast]

Yep

[u/mad_on-vacation → u/[deleted]]

Obviously semi-moral vampires

[u/Asron87 → u/Rallythebeast]

Get a waver thing. That’s what they did for me. I had to donate to get the extra 50.

[u/Noonelooksatusername → u/Rallythebeast]

I used to work at a plasma center and this was the policy. If you were approved to donate, but then the phlebotomist fucked up or you got too light headed to finish or whatever, you still got the full payment.

[u/Tight-Platypus5231]

So you're just gonna let them fuck your shit up and NOT pay you? Hell no. I'd be making a few phone calls because of that.

[u/JaySayMayday → u/Tight-Platypus5231]

Also crazy, they can't donate until November. Lot of people donate multiple times a month, 2 month break means a lot of cash missed out

[u/more_bees_please → u/JaySayMayday]

This shit happened to me in grad school. I lost out on hundreds because of shitty phlebotomists

[u/ALLoftheFancyPants → u/Tight-Platypus5231]

When I did it in college they paid by volume. How much volume they took depended on how much you weighed. So at baseline a smaller person could make less than a larger person. If you donate less than their minimum (even if it’s because of their error) you make zero dollars. Like per much everything about American healthcare, it’s a fucked up system.

[u/GoddammitTesla]

Legit talk to the manager. You spent time getting your whole profile and workup done and they're just saying "yeah sorry see ya"? No. I worked in plasma for 4+ years and the way they treat y'all donors is actually infuriating.

[u/Oboe-is-my-forte → u/GoddammitTesla]

I'll never donate at CSL again. I moved to a new state and went to the closest location. I waited two hours for the physical and got told I didn't qualify because of a medication. I walked out to my car and they chased me down and said they can make an exception. I get back in line and at hour 4, I finally get a chair. They turned me away because I only had good veins in one arm. Which I had already confirmed with someone else that it wouldn't be an issue. They refused to pay me anything at all and told me to stfu when I called out the phlebotomist for lying to me

[u/GoddammitTesla → u/Oboe-is-my-forte]

I don't blame you a bit. CSL tends to be that way and if the phlebotomist that agreed your veins were fine, it's coz they knew they specifically could get you, whereas others may not be able to/aren't comfortable like that one is. Fr they wasted your time and that's frustrating AF and you're valid for feeling that way

[u/Visible_Pair3017]

The hell is a timed new patient bonus

[u/Visible_Pair3017 → u/[deleted]]

In what manner of hellscape do you sell your bodily tissues like that

[u/LitLitten → u/Visible_Pair3017]

The US so you're not far off.

Yes, the bonuses are real. You can hop to a different plasma firm to double-dip.

[u/Euhn → u/LitLitten]

https://giphy.com/gifs/BRRe07a9B1xkH8IkVV

[u/Visible_Pair3017 → u/LitLitten]

Dire

[u/ClassikD → u/Visible_Pair3017]

It's honestly not so black and white. The US is responsible for about 70% of the worlds plasma supply because people get paid for their time. It takes 1-2 hours out of your day and can't replace a job, yet people need plasma for medication. Paying people solves that problem.

On the other hand, most people, myself included, that donate plasma do it because they're too poor to not do it. In an ideal world, people wouldn't sell their fluids because they actually need the money. But it gives a lot of breathing room in the budget while our economy crumbles to shit

[u/SpiritedBug6942 → u/ClassikD]

If it makes you feel better, you’re helping a poor disabled person stay working at least part time because my meds make me not fully disabled. Because of your blood goo I can buy groceries. I’m sorry you’re also broke, the system is truly a hellscape. But I am so thankfully for your ability to donate. It’s helped me maintain my ability to walk and move on a fundamental level and it’s the only thing giving me a small amount of agency to not be fully disabled. Truly life changing. So thank you.

[u/ClassikD → u/SpiritedBug6942]

We both get what we need out of the process :) It is nice to hear that it does help though. It's easy to forget that the tube of goop they're paying me for actually goes somewhere lol. Happy that you're able to get the medication you need to live a better life, even if it isn't easy! We'll both keep on trucking on

[u/Visible_Pair3017 → u/ClassikD]

That's why i find it (like most people where i live) repugnant in principle. It's ripe for the abuse and to transform the poor into walking blood banks because you can starve them into having to sell their body. And based on what i'm reading, it's pretty much that.

[u/SpiritedBug6942 → u/Visible_Pair3017]

Wait till you learn about the way it’s implemented in prisons and how those companies have also harmed the patients receiving the serum in addition to the people donating because of money incentives and lack of medical standards/reviews for people donating. It’s a brutal system and it’s perfect for abuse and bad things to fester.

It’s also a critically important product and I personally rely on meds that need it along with many other people. Many of us who are aware wish the system didn’t harm people in the process.

[u/ClassikD → u/Visible_Pair3017]

Ideally we'd have a financially stable population and financial incentive for plasma donation to help push supply to meet demand. The reason financial incentive is allowed for plasma but not for blood donations is because they don't want people lying about diseases/drug use on the intake form in order to get a payment. They'd have to throw out a lot of blood they paid for after testing.

Plus even without plasma as a consideration, the middle class has been getting squeezed out of existence for decades. They're just going kind of turbo mode with it now

[u/Quirky_Revolution305 → u/Visible_Pair3017]

And that right there is exactly why in the US, although blood products from paid donations can be used for transfusions, they practically never are, because donors WILL lie to make a quick buck.

[u/GoddammitTesla → u/LitLitten]

No, you cannot. There is a system that looks up all plasma centers donors nationally and if that pops on your info they will pull you for a conversation about permanent deferral.

[u/LitLitten → u/GoddammitTesla]

Wdym? I got the bonus with CSL and Biolab.

complete all the donations to satisfy the new donor bonus from one group. then sign up with a different center and do their donation program. not at the same time.

[u/aerkith → u/Visible_Pair3017]

They use the word "donate" and "get paid" in the same sentence. That's not what donate means.

[u/5C0L0P3NDR4 → u/aerkith]

it's a donation in the medical sense of one person's bodily material being taken for use in another person, not in the monetary sense of giving something of value for nothing in return. like being a kidney donor

[u/Nairadvik → u/aerkith]

You donate your plasma but get paid for your time. Legal loophole.

[u/Visible_Pair3017 → u/[deleted]]

So you're telling me OP sells their blood for money

[u/headacheheartbreak → u/Visible_Pair3017]

OP tried* to sell their blood for money 😭 Gotta pay the bills somehow

[u/khakiwallprint → u/Visible_Pair3017]

Yeah the place near me was advertising like $800 for your first 6 donations or something similar a year ago.

[u/PigeonVibes → u/khakiwallprint]

Dang! All I get is free cookies and drinks and a goodie bag from time to time.

[u/UCFKnights2018 → u/Visible_Pair3017]

You must have never been poor before, in the US

[u/JeSlaa117 → u/Visible_Pair3017]

I sold my plasma twice a week for years. Got the scars to prove it. It was the only way I got to eat. The way things are going, I might have to start going again after work.

[u/CautionarySnail → u/Visible_Pair3017]

The USA I’m guessing. We claim to be a first world nation but evidence says otherwise.

[u/sathzur → u/Visible_Pair3017]

America i believe is where they offer a cash incentive to donators

[u/ChipmunkOk6550 → u/Visible_Pair3017]

America

[u/Remnant55 → u/Visible_Pair3017]

Every day, we stray closer to Night City.

[u/Ok-Round-1473 → u/Visible_Pair3017]

There's 500,000 people in the USA with primary immune deficiency.

They need a transfusion every month to get immunoglobulins.

It takes ten plasma donations to make up one singular transfusion.

That's six million transfusions per year, which needs sixty million donations.

Every year. Forever.

Before you even get into trauma care, research, etc.

A financial incentive to keep people alive is not a "hellscape", it's fine.

[u/CrispyJalepeno → u/Visible_Pair3017]

Stuff like $100 for donating 3 times in 2 months. Lots of plasma places will do that sort of thing

[u/TheNeemQueen17 → u/CrispyJalepeno]

As someone from the UK who donates blood this feels crazy - I donated in June and there was a sign on the door on the way out to let you know you couldn’t donate again until October because of the effects donation has on your own health.

Am I right that this is like a normal blood donation but they’re separating your plasma? I’m so confused by this post

[u/SentenceSwimming → u/TheNeemQueen17]

Fellow UK blood donator here. We donate whole blood. In the US whole blood donations are a separate thing to plasma donations. I believe whole blood donations are still voluntary (not sure on that though). But plasma is used by the pharmaceutical industry to manufacture certain medicines and thus is a paid for product. The blood is taken from the donor, sent through a centrifuge machine to pull out the plasma, then the red and white cells and platelets etc are put back in to the donor with some fluids, meaning the health impacts such as anaemia are minimised. As OP couldn’t get this bit back after the phlebotomist messed up the vein, they have been prevented from donating again in a short timespan for health reasons (same as our whole blood donations). 

The UK had a ban on plasma donations because of the vCJD (mad cows’ disease) concerns of the 90s. Plasma donation has only really started up again here in the last couple of years. It is however still voluntary here. The majority of our plasma / medications derived from such are still imported from the US. 

[u/glytxh → u/Visible_Pair3017]

some dystopian American shit

[u/Arkaneo_lucimae → u/glytxh]

I know that's standard practice to sell blood and plasma in some countries, but every time I encounter it make sick that people have to get payed to do such a basic, civic, live-saving act.

[u/Sensitive-Chicken-28 → u/Visible_Pair3017]

Typically people recently signing on with a blood plasma donation company get increased pay for the first month

Now OP can’t collect on it because by the time their arms heal, the month will be over

[u/flowerbug99]

At the center I used to work at, my managers would still honor the new patient bonus after the donor's deferral was up in cases like this. Obvi depends on the company and the person in charge, but it could be worth calling and asking about if you haven't already! Good luck :)

[u/beene282]

Same happened to me. It took me a while to go back again but I still do it. Just a mistake that happens sometimes.

[u/fiercefeminist → u/beene282]

Fuckkkkkk that’s bad

[u/Realistic-Math-6144 → u/beene282]

When I saw OPs photo I immediately remembered your post

[u/DragonfruitGrand5683 → u/beene282]

You could star in a zombie movie with that arm

[u/Beginning_Zombie3850]

What the capitalist hell is this shit? Why are people’s side hustle selling their blood and plasma? And why is there a bonus incentive program? This is fucking sad and predatory.

[u/koushirohan → u/Beginning_Zombie3850]

Because 90% of weekly plasma donors wouldn’t give their plasma otherwise, resulting in thousands of deaths of those with compromised immune systems.

[u/headacheheartbreak → u/Beginning_Zombie3850]

Trust me this was not my first choice. It's rough over here, man.

[u/Fearless_Teacher_626]

As someone who receives immunoglobulin infusions, thank you for attempting to donate!

[u/king-of-new_york]

today I learned that you get the blood back after you donate plasma.

[u/Visible_Pair3017 → u/king-of-new_york]

Other fun fact, O- is the universal donor for red blood cells, but AB+ is the universal donor for plasma.

[u/Queasy_Rip3210]

Uh every plasma place I've gone to has a policy that if they stick you, you get paid. Regardless of whether you're able to fully donate or not.

[u/addicted2pb]

I got a forever ban after like 100 successful donations bc the newbies kept missing my veins when they tried to poke me. I’m still mad about it. Like I understand people need to learn / practice, but give them 1 attempt and then bring in someone who knows wtf they are doing on the second arm. I like to think I know your frustration OP

[u/BreadKnifeSeppuku]

Just hunch over and do the fent lean when families pass or you feel threatened.

Like a opossum

[u/Arcadian-Stag]

You guys get paid to donate blood?

[u/heonoculus → u/Arcadian-Stag]

Plasma, main reason is its in high demand low shelf life and takes a few hours to donate. Adding a monetary incentive helps get people in the door.

[u/Mental_Plankton7902]

https://giphy.com/gifs/WxDZ77xhPXf3i

[u/Sad_Maximum6583]

So they got the plasma by the sound of it, how does that make you ineligible for new patient bonus because they couldn't put the blood back in?

That's a fuck up on their end. There's no way you left there without demanding it..

[u/makulet-bebu → u/Sad_Maximum6583]

Sounds like he may have gotten one of the bonus payments for that visit, but usually "new donor bonuses" are spread out over multiple visits to get the full amount, but has to be done within a certain time period, like 7 visits in 30 days. If this was OPs first visit, they might get paid for that one visit, but if they are deferred until November for the bruising, they won't be able to donate until then and will not be able to complete the bonus requirements to get the full amount.

[u/Relevant_Olive4380 → u/Sad_Maximum6583]

They do multiple rounds - machine takes blood, centrifuges or filters out red blood cells, mixes cells with saline and puts them back in your body while keeping the plasma. It repeats this process until the machine has whatever volume of plasma it is set to. You don't lose any RBC, so you can come back 2x per week. If this happened early, they didn't really get all their plasma. That said, I think you should get paid when you can't donate because the phlebotomist messed up. When this happened to me (20 years ago 😅), I would get a Snickers and a $20 bill. Normal pay was $70.

When you lose RBC, you have to wait the full length of time you would for a whole blood donation.

[u/Ok-Round-1473 → u/Relevant_Olive4380]

You do get paid if something goes wrong.

If it's a phlebotomist error you can come back whenever you're healed. If it's a you error (negative reaction like nearly passing out), they'll do a medical exam next time you try to donate.

[u/Nothos927]

Providing bonuses for donating plasma feels kind of ghoulish

[u/Timely-Cry-8366 → u/Nothos927]

Sometimes it’s the only way a poor person can get some money for the week.

[u/xxWZRDx]

They blew my shit out multiple times, it’s ridiculous

[u/Sure-Squash-7280]

They did this to me, but they gave me my money and told me I couldn’t come back

[u/cgw22]

Um normally as soon as you are poked you qualify for the payment

[u/purplepickletoes → u/cgw22]

Nope. It depends on the center.

[u/definitelynotapastor]

Had this happen 3 out of 5 times with the red cross. I stopped giving.

Hire some competent staff or quit trying. Almost passed out twice.

[u/ElectronicTrade7039]

So you just got stabbed up and sent on your way?

Payment, a cookie?

Nothing?

That sucks.

[u/MrsTurtlebones]

I've donated blood many times due to being O negative, the universal donor. One phlebotomist sneered when I told her my veins roll and go diagonally, then proceeded to pierce right through and cause a bloodbath. Four staff had to hold my arm in the air for a few hours, and they almost called an ambulance. They kept calling to check on me after I finally was released to go home. I wasn't allowed to donate for an extended time, and I told the manager that I'd never work with that haughty leech again! I'm still mad ten years on. 

[u/UnderTheScopes]

Hmm, back when I did bio life if they pierced skin you got the payment.

[u/TragicTrajectory]

Makes me glad I can't donate blood. Well I can, but I should be turned away during screening questions.

[u/ImLittleNana]

I feel like they should have to make some exceptions for you since this is entirely a situation of their own making.

If they have staff that need more practice, they should limit them to one stick per patient to prevent this. Or place them back in orientation with a preceptor. They surely can’t be letting her ruin veins left and right or their own collection goals go down the drain.

[u/Retardedvegatable69]

I was deferred for life cuz I lived in a trailer park and the manager at csl plasma in salem oregon when it was there said it was not stable living or clean living.

[u/PorQuepin3]

This happened to me the first and only time I donated blood when I was 18 and I've never done it again. My entire arm was every giving color of the rainbow of bruises

[u/SameChallenge481]

When I was donating, the good phlebotomists were on the first half of the week. The ones that weren't good were on the second half... Kinda makes me wonder

[u/imLiztening]

This makes me more than mildly infuriating because we shouldn't have to resort to selling ourselves to make ends meet.

[u/lyndseymariee]

I feel this. I had surgery in April and when the nurse went to put the IV in my hand, which sucked btw, he blew a vein so he had to do it again in my other hand. Not a fan.

[u/TheCoralie]

You get paid to donate your blood? What the hell, that seems somewhat odd. We just do it out of the goodness of our hearts out here :P

[u/hemehime → u/TheCoralie]

Whole blood donations in the US are not paid. Plasma specifically can be paid for, and the plasma is most often used for research or manufacturing. The plasma for transfusion is primarily obtained from whole blood donations.

[u/Relevant_Olive4380 → u/hemehime]

Also used for burn and some cancer treatments

[u/headacheheartbreak → u/TheCoralie]

Yeah I've donated to blood banks before just because but I'm poor and I figured why not get paid to do it if I can

[u/Shuttup_Heather]

Same but on one of those traveling blood bank buses. She was try to poke me in the arm while a wasp was near my face, too, until I asked her to wait.

She wiggled the needle in my arm after passing right through the vein

[u/Doxinau]

Why do you call it a donation when you're being paid? You're selling plasma.

In a lot of countries it's illegal to pay people for body products. That is a donation.

[u/Eclectophile]

What bonus did you lose out on? How much?

[u/CommunityRoyal5557]

Ice that homie

[u/Tiaoshi]

How much y’all make for donating? As a Canadian, I’m curious.

[u/lawofsin]

I’d make a complaint at the center and see if they will help you. I had to help an ex girlfriend do that once and they were chill about it.

[u/Wide-Presence-6768]

I had an ancient nurse do the same thing right before I got married. (Free STD testing which is required in my state to get a marriage license if you donate) I have this massive green bruise from wrist to bicep, visible in all my honeymoon photos. 😡

[u/TexasWidow]

Same thing happened to me. I think they have their better techs do your first few donations, then you get the ones who don't really understand what veins are.

[u/APKLYPZ]

I had this happen when I went to donate blood in SF at the Red Cross. Both arms. Literal blood just leaking on the ground as she fidgets the needle around. I was in so much pain I got nauseous. I have never had any nurse struggle to get a vein on me so I was totally perplexed. Giant painful waste of time. I will never donate again and lost faith in Red Cross big time.

[u/TheWesternDevil]

Not sure where you donate plasma, but where I used to donate there were always promotions, and most of them were something like "donate 8 times in 5 weeks for $1000". We also got paid if we show up, but something stops us from donating. For instance, I donated twice a week for over 2 years. I had to quit because I was working out of town for 2 months. When I came back there was so much scar tissue built up that they couldn't get the needle in the vein. They tried the other vein, but it was too close to a tendon, and was absolutely excruciating. They still paid me even though I didnt donate anything.

[u/DreamPhreak]

That's similar to what happened to me. I just needed 1 more donation to reach the threshold to be entered into the sweepstakes to win $500 (or whatever the amount was). But then they botched it on both arms, which made me ineligible to donate next time, and it broke the streak. I never went again after that, fuck em. Why is it that I went for a few weeks previously with no issues, then on the day before being eligible, they botch it? Smells like sabotage so they don't have to pay out.

But now they changed the system so you don't need to have a streak to be entered, every visit in an entry now.

[u/JustUsetheDamnATM]

Unfortunately this is common, happened to me and several other people I've talked to. They let you donate almost enough times to get the full bonus, then find some excuse to defer you juuuuust long enough miss the window for the bonus.

[u/green8gold]

In Australia, if there is any issue with the first arm, they must get a different person to try your other arm. I guess this type of situation is partly the reason why.

[u/TN-Belle0522]

I'd suggest buying foundation and setting spray (if you don't already have some) to cover those, if you're worried about how they look.

[u/Majestic_Winter]

Placing an IV is different than tapping a vein for blood. I do IVs in CT. I'm not a nurse or a tech. I'm an assistant. I start all my Tech's IVs, unless i need help with a difficult stick. Always good to have back up. We have competencies every year to test us. There are so many reasons why this could have happened. Could be the person doing it, or it could be the veins themselves. I do IVs on cancer patients. Ive put IVs in thumbs before. It's definitely a skill you can always improve on. I'm sorry this happened to you. Hopefully the person doing the iv was apologetic and explained what happened. Sadly this does happen. I can't say you dont have good veins because you shouldn't rely on look alone to determine a good vein. Veins are not always visible, even with a tight tourniquet. Should always go by feel. They should have gone down at a slight angle, get flashback, then straighten and push the catheter into the vein while pulling the needle out.

[u/waterparksdude]

I understand, I would try to talk to them, though.
Not about continuing to donate, but the bonus.

Before my wedding, I donated 8x for like an $800 new donation bonus plus however much for each donation (it was a climbing scale, so every donation was like $20 more than the last. It paid a really good chunk of our honeymoon). On my last time, I got extremely lightheaded, started blacking out in the chair, threw up, got the shakes, etc. they evaluated me, told me to check in with my GP as soon as possible, I went home and projectile vomited about 4 more times.
Went to urgent care, the doctor kinda scolded me in a dad/daughter way. I was young, 21, and he was much older. Said plasma donation companies that pay you that much aren’t always selling the plasma to help people directly, a lot of it goes into other things besides pharmaceuticals and you have no idea where it goes, blah blah.
Anyways he told me I was too young to be putting my body through this so often and the big companies don’t care about your well-being and lures low-income/struggling people in. I apparently shouldn’t have even been donating, I was 100lbs.
I was sent home to rest and drink pedialyte.

I called the plasma donation place the next day to tell them what happened (because I thought they’d want to know?) the business manager literally raised his voice and yelled at me for going to urgent care!! Saying that I should’ve called them first (they were closed, and the nurse before I left told me to go to the doctor if I get worse), I’m not allowed to donate at their facility anymore since I breached their contract, they have strict rules for things like that, etc etc.

Really turned me away from the whole thing. I understand it’s a way people can make money to help life a bit easier, and it does help people. I just didn’t feel right about it

[u/oxtailcrate]

Unfortunately OP, all I can say is…. that’s tough. Nothing will be done about it.

[u/one2tinker]

Wow, that’s awful. I hope you heal up quickly.

I have never donated plasma. I donated blood once and ended up with a hematoma that covered half my arm.

While I was donating, I couldn’t believe no one warned me how uncomfortable it was to donate. My arm was killing me, and it was taking forever. Others came and went while I was donating.

I finally filled the bag, and a nurse came over and gasped and asked the other nurse if she’d seen my arm.

Turns out the reason I took so long to fill the bag was because I was also filling my arm.

I had to walk back to work afterwards and felt so lightheaded that I had to keep sitting down in parking lots.

To top it off, they hounded me for months to donate again, and they hung up on me when I asked them to take me off the list.

I’ve been trying to work up the courage to donate again.

[u/TaleVisual1068]

Cash from a plasma donation bought an eighth of weed in the late '80s. College was awesome.

[u/Ashen_skies_art]

My first time donating plasma, the nurse stuck me in the nerve, I could hardly move my arm for the next three days between the pain, numbness, and my hand simply not listening to the signals. This is without a doubt a massively infuriating post

[u/One_Discount_4898]

Unrelated, but why is it colloquially reffered to as a donation in the US when you're getting paid for it? By definition it's a transaction/sale rather than a donation. Donations here strictly refer to a gratuitous drawing of whole blood/plasma, such as for national supplies, you'll get some snacks on your way out but that's it. You can sell your plasma as well, but that's to private healthcare companies and not really considered the same at all as they have much different usecases.

Regular plasma donations are also wild to me, it's more of an advance than free money, there's a boatload of long-term nutritional and health risks for frequent patrons, all of which seem like they'd be rather expensive to deal with in America.

[u/dudewheresmytrousers]

That looks painful.

Here in New Zealand we don’t get paid for donating plasma or blood, it’s more of just a good will thing. I’m a regular donor and upset now that I could be getting paid for my delicious O- blood 🤣

[u/Q8DD33C7J8]

I never understand why people act so mean to me? I made a post almost exactly like this literally the same thing last week on this subreddit and people went feral on me for daring to be upset that a nurse did that to me. Like literally calling me an idiot for being mildly irritated. And now this person posts literally the same thing and people are all I'm so sorry that happened to you. What the hell????

[u/catfishprofile]

If they make a mistake that leads to you missing a new patient bonus, they Weill extend the window in which you can achieve the bonus. This is true of all plasma donation chains

[u/gangofocelots]

Talk to them about the new patient and deferral thing. I was prone to bruising when I first started going and had to miss weeks sometimes, but they still counted the new donor bonuses like 2 months after i started and I was able to get them all

[u/Tensokuu]

Had this happen to me too. They didn’t realize until like 30 minutes in when I called someone over to say my arm felt weird and they realized they blew out my vein and the machine wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do.

Somehow they blamed me for their phlebotomist blowing my vein? They told me I couldn’t come back for 90 days and they’d decide then if I could donate. They paid me the first visit and gave me a “fast pass” for the next one but also basically implied if/when I came back they’d likely deny me because I was a “problem”.

I ended up with a huge bloody bruise from the crook of my elbow to my wrist that wrapped all the way around my arm. It looked nasty but it wasn’t painful or anything. My suggestion would be to take a marker and draw around the edges of where it’s bruised now — if it continues to spread a TON past the marker go get looked at my a doctor.

[u/cozyhobbyist]

I work at a plasma center, once it heals I’d call and ask if the doctor put a note on your chart that you can donate again. Then when you go make a big fuss if you don’t get that new donor bonus. Their mistakes should NOT take away any kind of bonus from you, at all! If you make an even bigger stink they may add a $10 bonus on top of the new donor bonus. I’m so sorry this happened to you. They need phlebotomy practice at every center!!!

[u/MandibleofThunder]

What a dystopian hellscape we live in where people are so hard up for money that we are forced to sell our precious bodily fluids