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Eligibility of prospective blood donors who have had a conjugal visit within the past 12 months with an individual who is incarcerated in prison

A colleague in Sacramento wonders if other centers have in place policies regarding the eligibility of potential blood donors who have had a conjugal visit within the past 12 months with an individual who is incarcerated in prison.  The inquiring physician is not aware of any blanket, regulatory contraindications to accepting such a donor (so long as the donor meets all other criteria), but he wanted to know what others in the blood banking community were doing.

The following comments have been received.

ADDENDA Dec. 21, 2004

1. A blood center CEO reports that his organization is NOT currently deferring individuals who have had sex with someone who has been incarcerated. They do not believe that this scenario has been identified as a high-risk activity meriting deferral and he acknowledges that they have no direct question in their medical history questionaire that would elicit this information. Because neither their Policies nor their SOP's address this scenario, individuals in this situation would not be identified and would be accepted for blood donation.

Please submit comments to the e-Network Forum.

Ira A. Shulman, MD
CBBS e-Network Forum Editor & Moderator
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Posted: December 18, 2004

Addenda: Dec. 24, 2004

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