In this paper I will talk about the medicalization of blood into a drug, and how society has shaped the association with blood and disease. I will begin with a basic humoral view of blood and the ways in which blood-letting was thought to cure disease. I will then talk about the events that caused mankind’s view of blood to shift from a substance that needed to be drained from the body into a substance that needed to be transfused into the body in order to improve health. After the history, the paper will talk about the blood donation system in the United States, and the reasons why it shifted from a paid to fully volunteer based donation system—while pointing out that the blood donation system is still a business above the ground level. Next, the paper will talk about the basic reasons why citizens donate blood, and lastly the future implications in the difficulty of synthesizing blood and when discovered how it may affect blood donors.
Starting with Hippocrates and throughout Greek, Roman and Medieval time blood was considered one of the four humors (Bildhauer 58). These four humors, which were distributed throughout the body by blood, were believed to affect a person’s temperament and wellbeing (Pelis 332). Diseases were considered imbalances in the humors, and the best way to treat disease was to either change the person’s diet or by bloodletting. Within the period bloodletting, known as phlebotomy, was highly regulated (Bildhauer 66). There were numerous diagrams and calendars which described the best treatment for the patient. The diagrams would show where the blood should be let from, and the calendars told them if it was the right time to let the blood—even the type of seasons, or weather conditions, such as rain, could ch...
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...conceptions of blood: truth and human integrity. Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute, 19S57-S76. doi:10.1111/1467-9655.12016
Domen, R. E. (1995). Paid-versus-volunteer blood donation in the United States : a historical review. Transfusion Medicine Reviews, 9(1), 53-59.
Hess, J. R., & Schmidt, P. J. (2000). The first blood banker : Oswald Hope Robertson. Transfusion, 40(1), 110-113.
Lichang, L., Piliavin, J., & Call, V. A. (1999). Giving Time, Money, and Blood: Similarities and Differences. Social Psychology Quarterly, 62(3), 276-290.
Otto, P. E., & Bolle, F. (2011). Multiple facets of altruism and their influence on blood donation. Journal Of Socio-Economics, 40(5), 558-563. doi:10.1016/j.socec.2011.04.010
Pelis, K. (1997). Blood Clots: the nineteenth-century debate over the substance and means of transfusion in Britain. Annals Of Science, 54(4), 331-360.
Many of the subject’s were twins, mostly identical. Twins when through the worst of the surgeries, including blood transfusions. Doctors drained one twin of his blood and inject it into the other twin to see what would happen. Blood would be drawn from each twin in large quantities about ten cubic centimeters were drawn daily. The twins who were very young suffered the worst of the blood drawing. They would be forced to have blood drawn from their necks a very painful method. Other methods included from their fingers for smaller amounts, and arms sometimes from both simultaneously. The doctors would sometimes see how much they could withdraw until the patient passed out or died.
On the 1950’s, the above statement drove the medical field insane, many doctors used to forced blood transfusion on Jehovah’s Witness and other doctors refused to provide treatment to those who refuse blood transfusion; even in a life threatening situation. For some time, doctors were put on a bad position, they faced a dilemma when caring for a Jehovah’s Witness patient because if a patient (Jehovah’s Witness) was not treated promptly must likely he/she would die, but if they were threated against his or her wishes with blood transfusions, the doctor was charged with “Assault”. As the time went-on, the blood transfusion topic became more controversial, mainly due to the increase number on cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) acquired when used contaminated blood. The Scientifics, along with the medical field were forced to work together with Jehovah’s Witness in order to develo...
Although blood transfusions had been used before the First World War, many were not successful due to lack of knowledge in this type of treatments. World War I pushed the development of blood transfusions, allowing them to be safer. Before the war in the 17th century, blood transfusions often occurred with the use of animal blood, a practice that did not achieve desired results. These transfusions often times came from sheep, and although they were sometimes successful, it was discovered that any large amounts of transfusions would cause death. Coming to the conclusion that animal blood transfusions did not save lives, scientists looked to humans for human to human transfusions. Many of these attempted transfusions were met with failure but in 1818, Dr. James Blundell accomplished the first successful human blood transfusion; four ounces of blood were transferred to the patient from her husband. From that moment on, doctors began to learn even more about blood transfusions and how to do them properly. By 1901, the four human blood groups were discovered by Karl Landsteiner; with less differences in the bloods transfused together, coagulation and clumping amounts decreased. This benefited many lives in that toxic reactions to the wrong types of blood did not occu...
“Where did this concept come from and why?” The idea of bloodless surgery came about when a religious organization, called Jehovah’s Witnesses insisted on upholding their religious beliefs of being treated without blood (DoBa, T. 2013). Many medical professionals out of respect for their religious beliefs and because of the health benefits,
There has been a dramatic rise in the rate of caesarean section (CS) in the last two decade making it the most commonly performed procedure worldwide. 1Surveys (2, 3) have indicated that 3-5% of total red cells transfusion is related to obstetrics with higher rate in CS patients compared to those having vaginal delivery (1-7% versus 1%) (4, 5).
“Organ Sales Will Save Lives” by Joanna MacKay be an essay that started with a scenario that there are people who died just to buy a kidney, also, thousands of people are dying to sell a kidney. The author stood on her point that governments should therefore stop banning the sale of human organs, she further suggests that it should be regulated. She clearly points that life should be saved and not wasted. Dialysis in no way could possibly heal or make the patient well. Aside from its harshness and being expensive, it could also add stress to the patient. Kidney transplant procedure is the safest way to give hope to this hopelessness. By the improved and reliable machines, transplants can be safe—keeping away from complications. Regulating
Doctors believed the human body was part of the universe, so they used elements for each humour, “Yellow bile was the equivalent of fire. Phlegm was the equivalent of water. Black bile was the equivalent of earth and blood was the equivalent of air”(“Shakespearean and Elizabethan Medicine”). Also, because of their beliefs and lack of knowledge on serious medical conditions, most severe cases were not treated accurately. Some doctors believed if a person broke a bone, then it was never supposed to be used again because the accident was based from many sins of the soul (“Shakespearean and Elizabethan Medicine”).
Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale focuses on the lives of many hemophilic patients and their journey to seek medical treatment which eventually led to exposure to hepatitis and AIDS for as many at 95% of the hemophilic community. The documentary focuses on the creation and consequences of a medication known as “factor 8”, which was used to stop bleeding in patients with hemophilia. The documentary exposes pharmaceutical companies and the fact that they were using contaminated blood to create such medications. These pharmaceutical companies were using unconventional methods of obtaining blood with the addition of not testing the blood for any diseases as they were looking to fulfill the large demand of the drug in the United States and many countries around the world. The film focuses on exposing the problem of the lack of governmental regulations to protect patients against the pharmaceutical companies in the United States, especially the hemophilic community. Patients with hemophilia had access to medication that would control their disease, however, that treatment was contaminated and would eventually cost them their lives. The film has one goal and that is to expose one of the worse outbreaks of diseases in the United States. It achieves its goal by putting emphasis on the fact that many lives could have been saved if someone had listened and stopped the pharmaceutical companies who were looking to make a profit out of their newly created “miracle”
Siraisi, Nancy G. Medieval and early Renaissance medicine: an introduction to knowledge and practice. University of Chicago Press, 2009.
This theory takes into question whether or not a person is judged by their actions or their character. If a person is judged by their actions, then the theory states that they are judged ethically. If a person is judged by their character, then they are judged morally. This theory states that there is always a constant internal fight between a person’s ethics and morals. Transfusions are usually performed on patients going in for surgery or those suffering from injury such as loss of blood in a car accident or disease. Cancer is a prime candidate for the use of blood transfusions since it impacts the organs that affect your body’s blood count thereby greatly reducing red and white blood cell count. Whether it is a blood illness, burn, or liver failure various parts of blood can be used to counteract the damage done by such conditions using either red or white blood cells along with platelets. While blood transfusions play a vital role in combating both illness and injury with success these procedures do have some form of risk involved that any blood recipient must take into
People perpetrate seemingly selfless acts almost daily. You see it all over the news; the man who saved that woman from a burning building, the mother who sacrificed herself to protect her children from the bomb blast. But how benevolent are these actions? Are these so-called “heroes” really sacrificing themselves to help others? Until recently, it was the common belief that altruism, or selfless and unconditional kindness, was limited primarily to the human race. However, within the last century, the works of several scientists, most prominently George Price, have provided substantial evidence concluding that altruism is nothing more than a survival technique, one that can be calculated with a simple equation.
Gintis, Herbert, Samuel Bowles, Robert Boyd, and Ermst Fehr. “Explaining Altruistic Behavior in Humans.” Evolution and Human Behavior 24 (2003): 153-172. Web. 5 Feb. 2012
By donating blood to insure there is enough in supply, the life we save may be our own.
Symbols are present in every person’s daily life. Symbols are seen everywhere, whether it is through art, religion, culture, or road signs, they are all around. Blood is a symbol that is seen in art, religion, literature and many other visual forms. Its direct connection to the human body is a significant aspect of its symbolism. People in the medieval period, which was right before Shakespeare’s time, thought that the blood was a person’s life force, and to some extent they were right. Literature uses blood to represent a variety of things such as a character’s desires, emotions and conscience. In the play “Macbeth,” by William Shakespeare, blood symbolizes many things, however, the most significant
In the case study Blood for Sale, Sol Levin, the founder of Plasma International, is seen participating in a highly controversial act: buying and selling blood for profit. In this paper, I will show the advantages and cons of taking part in commercial transactions in blood from the egoistic, the utilitarian, and the Kantian perspectives as well as my stand on the company’s actions.