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falenas108 comments on Open thread, Oct. 27 - Nov. 2, 2014 - Less Wrong
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I keep finding the statistic that "one pint of donated blood can save up to 3 lives!" But I can't find the average number of lives saved from donating blood. Does anyone know/is able to find?
What do you mean with "lives saved by donating blood" in the first place?
Quantity people who would die without any blood donations
Liters of blood donated
That's not a pretty useful number if you want to make personal decisions based on it. If our Western system would need more blood, raising the incentives for donations isn't that hard.
WHO prefers all blood donations to be unpaid:
"Regular, unpaid voluntary donors are the mainstay of a safe and sustainable blood supply because they are less likely to lie about their health status. Evidence indicates that they are also more likely to keep themselves healthy."
Interesting. So the core question seems to be: "How much value is produced by healthy blood donors making decisions to donate without incentives, compared to blood that's "brought"".
Bought blood has been subject of an interesting debate:
"Since increased blood shortages are to be expected anyway in the near future, all measures improving the supply of safe blood, including monetary compensation, should be objectively discussed without prejudice."
"Paid blood donation still has its defenders, who cite economic doctrines denying the existence of altruism per se, the inability of most countries with exclusively voluntary donations to achieve self-sufficiency and the supposedly successful use of selected groups of paid donors."
"Majority would consent to free blood donation only in case of emergency or as a family replacement..."
"Several countries are already self-sufficient in blood and blood products, based on a voluntary, unpaid donor system."
"The European Association of the Plasma Products [...] believes that the most important aspect of self-sufficiency is a sufficient supply of safe and efficacious product; the question of paid or unpaid donations is of lower importance."
The expression "can save up to" should immediately trigger your bullshit detector. It's a reliable signal that the following number is meaningless.