donor weight issues

[sona]

hey all

is there any upper limit of donors weight that is accepted for donation

[khalidm3]

There is no such requirement, or need to observe upper weight limit unless the donor meets other criteria.

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

Same in the UK; minimum of 50Kg - maximum of anyone who doesn't actually break the donor couch!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AMcCord]

Saw a report in the news about a month ago where a young man was turned away from a blood drive in the UK - they said he weighed too much and it was a safety issue, they were afraid that the donor couch wouldn't hold him, etc. He was a very motivated donor because he had a family member who had needed blood and he wanted to return other donors good deeds. Needless to say, he was very disappointed about the refusal. I imagine it happens ocassionally in a number of places worldwide. Too bad someone couldn't have come up with a way to allow him to donate.

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

Saw a report in the news about a month ago where a young man was turned away from a blood drive in the UK - they said he weighed too much and it was a safety issue, they were afraid that the donor couch wouldn't hold him, etc. He was a very motivated donor because he had a family member who had needed blood and he wanted to return other donors good deeds. Needless to say, he was very disappointed about the refusal. I imagine it happens ocassionally in a number of places worldwide. Too bad someone couldn't have come up with a way to allow him to donate.

Whoops; I meant that as a tongue in cheek comment. I didn't realise it had actually happened.

[AMcCord]

Whoops; I meant that as a tongue in cheek comment. I didn't realise it had actually happened.

I hadn't heard of it until that news story.

[Liz]

the problem may be finding a vein.

[khalidm3]

In such cases, Over Weight/finding the vein we can not say donor disqualifies while it is is our ineligibility. We may say say we r unable to draw blood.

[AMcCord]

This particular case in the UK never got to the point of looking for a vein apparently. They asked him how much he weighed, he told them and they rejected him. They told him (he says they told him nicely and apologetically) that their donor couch wouldn't hold him. In the picture he was obviously a big guy, but he didn't look huge, just quite beefy, maybe muscular as well as big. Obviously in some cases finding a vein would be the problem - been there, done that drawing autologous donors. Quite a challenge.

[Liz]

Exactly, If he had been an autologous blood deposit donor, I wonder what they would have done, probably taken him.

[sona]

thanx every body

i asked this question coz same incident happened at our facility when a couple of donors of the same family walked in for donation but as all of them were COUCH BREAKING HEAVY they were refused by our senior

he gave some reasons that as all of them have the same problem they may have some genetic disorder and secondly there cholesterol levels may be high

donors were quite disappointed of the deferral and so was i really very confused :confused:

[clmergen]

I have seen overly weight donors turned away at a mobile drive but with a recommendation to go to the donor center where the donor chairs are rated for greater rate.

[heathervaught]

Exactly, If he had been an autologous blood deposit donor, I wonder what they would have done, probably taken him.

I know that we have turned away donors who cannot safely get themselves into the donor couch. I don't know first-hand of anyone who has been turned away because of weight, but I do know of someone who we turned away because they were wheelchair bound and couldn't get themselves into the bed. Our donor center staff could not assist due to liability risk. We chose not to draw from the wheelchair for the donor's safety - if she had passed out, she could have fallen from the chair. Other reactions would have been harder to manage as well.

[dherbert]

I believe the issue with acceptance of a 'heavier' donor would be the weight that the couch manufacturer says is the upper limit for the bed. A blood collection site would surely be liable if they knowingly let someone on to a donor bed and it broke when it was contraindicated by the manufacturer? That's looking at it legally but if they subsequently had hurt the donor how would that make any of them feel? And if you only have couches/beds to take blood on what else could they do? In Australia, the rules are to the limit of the couch/bed effectively. I wonder if bed manufacturers take these things into consideration ie the increasing rates of obesity?

Denise

[AMcCord]

... I wonder if bed manufacturers take these things into consideration ie the increasing rates of obesity?

Denise

If they haven't (and I wonder if that thought has even crossed their radar), they should. I don't think we can afford to lose willing and able donors for that kind of reason - assuming that they have a vein, of course.

[Antti V]

Hi everyone,

As I have another weight-related question I'll piggyback on this fine thread.

My blood service has a body-mass index (BMI) upper limit of 36 for apheresis donors for reasons that were poorly documented (well, not documented) at the time, years back. The word of mouth from people who knew people who used to work here back then is that sometime somewhere in the world there had been a morbidly obese plasma donor (in the US possibly), donating as much and as often as allowed (in the US that's plenty compared to EU where we operate), and he or she had a serious adverse effect (possibly death). I can't find such a case reported. The general idea was that the donor's total blood volume was poorly estimated because of obesity and thus too much plasma was collected, followed by some major cardiovascular trouble.

I'm trying to evaluate whether we need such a limit - from what I've gathered so far there are plenty of places that do not have such limits. Does anyone know of

a) any reports of cases similar to the above?

any other institution that has an upper limit on apheresis donors' weight or body mass index (apart from couch issues)?

[Eman]

Saw a report in the news about a month ago where a young man was turned away from a blood drive in the UK - they said he weighed too much and it was a safety issue, they were afraid that the donor couch wouldn't hold him, etc. He was a very motivated donor because he had a family member who had needed blood and he wanted to return other donors good deeds. Needless to say, he was very disappointed about the refusal. I imagine it happens ocassionally in a number of places worldwide. Too bad someone couldn't have come up with a way to allow him to donate.

That is a legitimate concern that comes up every now and then (maybe that reflects my having worked in Wisconsin for so many years, one of our heavier states). The other concern besides the donor bed being able to hold the donor is accessing the vein. Most of the time, the bigger a donor the harder the stick is. Of course, you don't know that until you try.

[Desoki]

I didn't read any thing about upper limit weigth in last TM of AABB or STD