After reading the letter from Harold Crabill, director of the Maine Operations for the American Red Cross (Nov. 2), I had to write.
On Sept. 11 of this year, I gave blood, something that I had done 59 times before. On Oct. 6, I got a letter from the Red Cross stating that I had obtained a false positive result in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) test. After further testing of my blood by the Red Cross, they determined that I do not have HBV, a virus that causes hepatitis. Now this would be good news, I don’t have any virus. What could be wrong with that? Well, now that I have had a false positive results on this test, the Red Cross will never allow me to give blood again.
Let’s see if I’ve got this right. My blood is not contaminated with any disease or virus, but they still don’t want my blood anymore, even though I have given 7 1/2 gallons over the past 20-plus years without any problems.
Maybe it’s time for the Red Cross to review its policies. The Red Cross is always begging for people to give, but they reject someone who has given many times and based on their own test doesn’t have contaminated blood.
David Pridham, Litchfield
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