Giving blood as a foreigner in Germany

Are they ever likely to allow Brits to give blood?

I would quite like to trade some blood for some notes as i am skint.

sorry if you lived in the uk for more than six months between '85 and '96 (i think) they wont take your blood due to BSE, or rather kreuz-jacob which suprisingly has nothing to do with cheese bisciuts. they also dont take AB blood group. which has nothing to do with cows, nor madness.

Can you donate blood in Germany if you are a foreigner???

I don't get it. They pay you money for your blood? Germans don't donate blood?

20 or 26 euros a go or in this region.

They do not pay us to give our blood in South Africa. But they give us really nice bicuits and juice to drink, and if you donate 4 times in one year, they give you a nice pen or a coffee mug with a big blood drop on it!

Bood donation in Germany is a volunteer thing like in Britain, no cash, I thought?

Don't take blood off gay men or women who have bisexual male partners either.

Though women whose husbands regular visit the Hansastrasse are more than welcome.

I too assumed it was like Britain (or SA) where you get tea and biscuits afterwards (and time off work where applicable).
But then I wouldn't know, because they won't let me donate. Not because I'm a British citizen, but because I've spent too much time in the UK in the recent past.
I have run out of comments to make on this subject and just smile wryly (sp?) when it's mentioned.

I heard that in the emerald isle ,when you donate blood you get no cash ,but either tea,coffee or a pint of guinness,cos its high in iron.

funny that, isnt it usualy after guinness that someone makes you bleed?

Sorry (again) but a couple of thoughts:

(a) in countries where blood is paid for (Japan, USA) the quality is far lower than in, say, England; and

(b) it is advisable for men to donate once in a while because, rugby games aside, we are not forced "re-fresh" our supply regularly in the way women are.

I'm on 19 pints - one short of a free National Donation Service Beer Flask - in England.

ps. don't donate blood the day before you run a lot.

TT article on blood donation

I went down there about 6 months ago to donate...filled in all the forms, picked out a gift (you get a gift the first time) had a thumb prick test, then was led to the donating room where they told me to bugger off FOREVER cuz I'm a Brit. we have a lifelong ban apparently.
even though I've been vegetarian since I was 13 years old!!!
gah!
I just donate when I go home to Blighty now.

That was the case in England too, until they realised that people were bending all the rules and "operating heavy machinery" after their visit to the blood donor centre.

We only have 12 pints of blood in our system. Take one away and replace it with a couple of Guinesses, and you are set for a particularly weird kind of inebriation.

12 pints of blood? I think its closer to 8...

@MTV
We don't get paid to give blood in the US.

Checked and can concur that you don't. Sorry.

Anyhow - I read a study that said in some countries people are/were paid for blood, and the quality is therefore lower (tramps, inmates, diseases, people lying on forms; etc.)

@Sleepless - how much is 5 litres? "The average adult has about five liters of blood living inside of their body, coursing through their vessels, delivering essential elements, and removing harmful wastes. Without blood, the human body would stop working."

If you really need to get some money from giving your blood you could try looking into doing a clinical drugs trial.
I know that there is a company here in Munich that runs them regularly and they advertise in the "In München" magazine.
I used to do them quite a lot when I was a student/unemployed back in Ireland.
Obviously the longer trials will pay more but there are often a few that only require 2 weekends or so.
You basically go in, take some drugs and then have them take blood out all day to test absorption rates and the like. Good money as well.

@mtv, just looked it up...we split the difference. 10 pints of blood it is.

I'm going to have a OG moment (you are wrong above), but not quite an OG moment (you were initially righter - 5 litres = 8.7997184 pts).

Nrrrrrrr ....

My father has been giving blood for years at pelican house in dublin,at first i thought it was for the free drinks until he told me he is a fairly rare blood type,regis o negetive ,which apparently is a universal blood type and can be give to anyone,so its used for emergency transfusions.

We get pies, donuts, cordial and if your lucky, a sausage sizzle back in Melbourne!

Good point. People with a regular blood group types are able to donate to everyone, and this is the blood most in demand. I've got AB- which is rare, and common in gypsies. (That would explain why I live in a wagon, I think.) My blood isn't much in demand. In fact, they often give just tell me to bugger off when I turn up at the donor centre.

I donate it here on an irregular basis. I go to the place on Dachauerstr.

1. The first time you donate, you don't get paid. You get a nice little thank-you basket full of goodies.

2. The next time you go, you can choose between €20 in your hand, €20 donation to charity or the nice little basket again.

3. I believe the waiting time between donations is now down to 70 days.

4. You can also donate plasma if you have good veins (big ones that don't clog up). Takes about an hour or so, but you get around €50. You have to be accepted for that program.

5. Out of the probably over 200 people I've seen giving blood at the same time as myself, probably only about 1 of them looked dodgy - aka - doing it for purely the money.

Sounds like the perfect scenario for the "Student Grants" out there! A proper win-win situation.

You hand over the claret, they give you the beer tokens AND you get pissed quicker. Sorted.

Applies to Ireland too. My missus is german, has been veggie since 12 but lived in Ireland for 9 months and cannot donate anymore. She was a regular too.

I have been a sperm donor to the Germans for a few years now...

Last time I gave blood I followed up by having a smoke then getting in a lift going up. When the doors opened at the top the people waiting got a nice surprise (that would be me.. fainted dead away on the floor).
I was thinking next time I'll get a group together and we'll all try it. Last one standing at the top of the elevator wins everyone's free biscuits.

Showem: €50 for plasma ain't "donating", it's selling. I used to sell plasma when I was in college. It was a pain. They usually set up shop in the areas near the ghettos and run various incentive programs to make sure the people come back twice a week every week (increasing amounts of money, especially for the 8th and 9th round in a single calendar month). My apt was at the college/ghetto border.

Selling plasma isn't so bad but it takes a lot longer and the needle is bigger because blood's going both ways. Here's how it works (at least, this is how it worked 12 years ago):

First, they stick your finger for a drop of blood and examine it for the "crit" to see how much protein is in the plasma. This will determine how much plasma they need to take.

Then comes the tapping.

Method 1:take blood like normal into a bag. When the bag is full, clamp the hose, take the bag to the centrifuge, return with the bag sans plasma and dump the blood cells and other stuff back in. Repeat once, and the second round is much slower since your blood is thicker. A third round might be necessary depending on the crit level.

Method 2: You're hooked up to a strange looking machine with tubes and twirly thingees and a spinning plastic cylinder. Blood goes out of your arm into the cylinder and is instantly centrifuged. Once the container is full of blood cells and has no more room for centrifuging, it stops and pumps the cells back into your arm. Then it re-cycles and continues doing so until a set amount of plasma (based on the crit) has been taken.

The needle used for plasma is much bigger (8 gauge) than a normal blood donation needle (10-12 gauge) because the blood has to go back and forth a few times. It leaves a lasting mark.

At €50 a pop I may consider doing that again.

If you're wondering, the plasma is taken, processed, tested, processed further, then used for various things such as drugs for hæmophilia or as a culture/testing medium.

woof.

I did the plasma selling thing when I was a student as well - got an extra dollar because I passed out.

I passed out after I gave blood here as well (gave up after 3 times when they told me to "save my veins").

@MTV - I will remember you if I need surgery, I am also AB negative.

Was a regular in Canada, no money, but you get cookies or donuts and coke afterwards... I didn't do it for the money, I did it because, it made me feel good, especially when cash was tight, I still gave something. In Canada the rule it every 72 days.

Would love to donate here.

Bad Doggie, your example is a bit misplaced, as they don't set any mobile plasma units up near the "ghettos" here.

gee IPJ, you seemed fixated on this. yes of course you can get money to give blood. you either get paid for it or you can donate it. you can choose.

@showem, thanks for clearing up the misconceptions. you can donate or get paid for your blood and they always give you cookies or a snack afterwards. germany isn't anything special in that regard.
i used to give blood in stuttgart and i would go to the only hospital that actually gave you €26 for it. the reason, a collegue i would go with used to work for the blood bank during his civil service year and he told me how much the ABB (is that it?) used to sell a pint of blood for. after that, i had no qualms about giving, not donating blood. this hospital also had a reference program, so if i mentioned a friend then donated 3 times, he would get a €25 gift certificate to some music store or whatever.
the waiting time for women was longer than men.

The first time I gave blood(at around 30 years old), I was nervous and drank alot of water, juice, etc before giving it. They took the blood, told me I was a real 'pumper'(filled up the bag fast), and then let me go. After sitting down for 15 minutes and eating and drinking some more, I got up to walk back to my desk - passed out cold, had a reaction and all bodily functions 'let go'(if you know what I mean) - all that water, juice, Diet Coke that I had in my system was promptly on the floor in the hallway(on one of those office carpets. The most embarrassing thing was, the next day they put one of those red parking cones in the hallway that said 'Caution - Wet Floor' even though it was a rug!!

Finally got up the nerve to give blood again just before moving here. It was fine, didn't squeeze the ball to get it out faster this time and went out and played a round of golf 3 hours later.

I give blood because it is the right thing to do when you are healthy and you can.

Wha? I don't get it. How is the above statement being fixated? I've never, ever heard of anyone getting paid to give blood ever. It's a donation. There are blood drives to get people to donate. Yes, of course I may be wrong and have missed this concept somewhere, but in my experience people "give blood" not "sell blood." I don't know. They would never take my blood, since I never (until now) weighed enough.

Of course it is possible to get paid for giving blood in the states, it is a big place and not the same everywhere. They definately pay for plasma in many places in the states. I doubt it is as much as here though.

It's not like they don't turn around and sell the blood themselves either.

Plasma is not the same as blood, though.

No, I also said that they pay for plasma. I wrote that after I wrote that it is possible to get paid for giving blood.

Just to clarify:

http://www.organdonor.gov/bloodfaq.htm

http://www.donate-blood.com/site2/content/.../donor_faqs.asp

I gave blood once at one of those blood drive things at my high school. Got roped into doing it by a hot girl I knew. Got me (and about 3/5ths of the class) out of a calc test that day. The downside was that my cross-country coach got pissed that I wasn't supposed to practice that day because I gave blood. Ended up giving me a 5mile run instead of the 9 I was supposed to do. But fair is fair, he was pissed at all the team members who gave blood that day. When I got back I was on a serious runner's high! (probably rather lucky I didn't pass out somewhere along the way... the coach never really liked me anyway and probably wouldn't have cared if I was missing at the end). But all I got for donating was a sticker that said "Be nice to me, I gave blood" (I didn't even get the drink and cracker because they were saving that for people who hadn't eaten enough that day). I was mad... I wanted that drink... It looked so good and purple.