State's Blood Supply Is Hemorrhaging

Texas and Rest of Nation Face Critical Shortage in Blood Supply

The blood supply is alarmingly low in Texas and the rest of the nation. Even though the state's blood supply has never been safer, it has never been more at risk, according to the Texas Medical Association.

In Texas, there are 18 blood centers and 57 collection sites, most of which are affiliated with America's Blood Centers and a few with the American Red Cross. Together, they will collect about 805,000 pints of blood this year. However, that is not enough.

Bill Teague, the chief executive officer of the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, says in the 42 years he's been in blood banking, he has never seen shortages like those experienced in the last five years.

The reasons for the crisis are many. Demand is increasing, as more patients undergo organ donations and cancer therapies that require a large volume of blood. At the same time, the supply is dwindling as fewer people come forward to donate their blood and tighter restrictions eliminate some potential donors. And the cost of blood is skyrocketing, due to the number of tests performed on donated blood, the cost of the equipment used and the level of government regulation.

Each pint of blood that's donated undergoes 12 different tests for infectious diseases, including syphilis, hepatitis B, HIV, Human T-lymphotropic virus and hepatitis C. New tests that are in development may add $45 to $55 to the current price of $80 to $120 per pint of blood, according to the American Hospital Association.

And those tests are only performed on people who have made it past the long list of screening questions. Potential blood donors are asked about a variety of experiences, including whether or not they have lived in Great Britain since 1980 (to eliminate the risk of mad cow disease), their sexual encounters and drug use, among others.

"The nature of the questions are so repugnant to some of our donors that they have simply stopped giving," Teague says.

- Texas Medical Association and Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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