I gave blood yesterday at a local Red Cross Blood Drive co-sponsored by my church.
When they asked what arm I wanted the blood drawn from – I quickly said LEFT. My non-dominant arm.
The phlebotomist was a very nice man, kind of jumpy, a little nervous – but nice and good at his job.
Why my LEFT arm?
In the last few years our firm has handled a number of medical malpractice cases related to blood donations, testing, transfusions etc. We have represented folks with permanent long term nerve damage, serious blood born illnesses, those who suffer head injuries related to falls from chairs and tables, and a myriad of other injuries related to blood testing, donations and transfusions.
Here is a list of the kind of injury that can occur during a blood test or donation:
- Nerve Damage related to wrong location stick
- Infection related to unclean / unsanitary donation equipment
- Head injuries / hematoma related to a fall from donation chairs and tables
- Blood born illness related to contaminated transfusions
Sadly, the list goes on. As I was watching the Red Cross staff work yesterday, I began thinking about all the possible ways that problems could occur resulting in injuries. Thankfully, serious injury is rare – but when it does occur, our office investigates without charge to determine whether the injury and or illness was related to negligence (human error).
Give Blood. It’s important. But maybe, just to be on the safe side – give from your non-dominant arm. Better to have nerve damage on the side you don’t need to write and eat.