Waiting to give blood at work. Answering "no" to all the potential deferral reasons always reminds me what a deeply boring person I am. Never been to Europe OR juvie.
@redacted it's time period specific. Some period in the 90s where you can't have made a protracted stay for some reason.
@rhorsman Ah, now that makes much more sense. Don't know what exactly it's referring to, but it sounds like a valid reason.
@rhorsman I feel ya. "No. How many times must I tell you, "I've done nothing exciting nor at-risk. Ever!"
@rhorsman "are you, or have you ever been, a member of a communist party"
@rhorsman you're not allowed to give blood if you've been to Europe?!
@Dimduning Nah, it's just if you made a prolonged visit during a period in the 90s. I think it's to do with mad cow disease or something?
@rhorsman Huh. Still kinda strange. I mean, it's not like us Europeans don't give blood.
@Dimduning oh it's totes bizarre. For a supposedly brash culture, we're ridiculously overcautious about some things.
@rhorsman The contrast is interesting. For instance American physicians seem very casual about prescribing medications that are all but banned here (all that xanax!), but also practice a lot of "defensive medicine" with ineffective screening programs, and MRI:s for just about anything.... (This is based somewhat on popular culture and hearsay, but still.)
@Dimduning I'd say there's a grain of truth in that pop culture and hearsay. The weirdest one is pain management: it tends to either be impossible to get a reasonable amount of pain drugs and you're immediately under suspicion if you ask; or a ridiculous amount is dispersed and you end up with community wide opiate dependence problems. We're not good at doing things in moderation here, especially important things.
@rhorsman Is "terrified of injections and nearly all other types of puncture" a possible deferral reason?
@rhorsman Huh? Being to Europe is a reason not to give blood? That sounds…surprising, given the level of healthcare here compared to most of the rest of the world.