Man rejected from blood drive over pregnancy question — Analysis
After refusing to confirm he was either pregnant recently or if he is currently, a Scottish man was banned from giving blood.
After refusing to answer an intake question asking him whether he was pregnant or not, Leslie Sinclair, a regular blood donor was refused admission at the Albert Halls Clinic in Stirling.
Sinclair was taken home Wednesday night by staff from the National Health Service (NHS), despite the fact that the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service tried to locate 16,000 donors. However, the personnel of the National Health Service refused to draw his blood and did not respond to the question about Sinclair’s pregnancy.
“I hate that I give blood every day since I was 18. I’m very happy to do so without any problem,” Sinclair said on Thursday, according to the Daily Mail. He explained that while he had no objection to filling out forms about “Medical conditions and diseases” because he knows “Blood needs to be kept safe,” he found the pregnancy question baffling.
“I pointed out to the staff that it was impossible for me to be in that position, but I was told that I would need to answer, otherwise I couldn’t give blood. I told them that was stupid and that if I had to leave, I wouldn’t be back, and that was it, I got on my bike and cycled away,” the retired engineering company driver said.
The 66-year-old, who claims to have donated over 125 pints of blood in the last 50 years, denounced the NHS’ new policy as “Nonsensical,” pointing out that “Many people are in dire need of assistance and vulnerable individuals, such as children..” Pregnant women are required to wait six months after giving birth to donate blood.
In October, the NHS announced its largest-ever blood drive. It needed 100,000 donors to begin the spring ahead of elective surgery procedures being performed by doctors that had been delayed or shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The agency also announced last June that “Everyone” would be asked “These are the same question-based gender neutral questions” in what a PSA video called “This is our best and most inclusive experience in donation.”
SNBTS director Marc Turner explained that “Although pregnancy is only relevant to women whose biological sex is male or female at birth, it is still important to ask staff about the gender of their sex..” He cited the NHS’ “Promotion of inclusion” as the basis for requiring the clearly-male Sinclair to share his pregnancy status.
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