A blood donor from Scotland says he was turned away by a clinic after refusing to answer a question about pregnancy.
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Leslie Sinclair,66, has donated blood within the past 50 years but was recently turned away due to a pre-donation questionnaire asking him if he was currently carrying a child or given birth within the past six months. Sinclair told the staff that the question did not apply to him and he shouldn’t have to answer it. However, they turned him away after Sinclair skipped over the question.
‘I am angry because I have been giving blood since I was 18 and have regularly gone along. I’m very happy to do so without any problem. I told them that was stupid and that if I had to leave, I wouldn’t be back, and that was it, I got on my bike and cycled away. It is nonsensical and it makes me angry because there are vulnerable people waiting for blood, including children, and in desperate need of help. But they’ve been denied my blood because of the obligation to answer a question that can’t possibly be answered.’
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The staff told Sinclair that he had to provide a reason why he couldn’t answer the question as it is not always clear if someone is pregnant and their policy is to promote inclusiveness.
‘There is always a form to fill in and that’s fine – they tend to ask about medical conditions or diseases – and clearly that’s because the blood needs to be safe. This time around, there was a question I hadn’t seen before: ‘Are you pregnant, or have you been in the last six months?’ which required a yes or no answer.’
According to the Daily Mail, Sinclair’s wife was also thrown off by the question since pregnant women have to wait six months to give birth. The incident happened as the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service launched a campaign earlier this week to find 16,000 new blood donors within the year.
After learning about the incident, director Marc Turner thanked Sinclair for donating his blood to the community for the past few decades. He says the question was posed for those whose biological sex assignment at birth as female is not always physically visible to staff.
‘We appreciate the support of each and every one of our donor communities and thank Mr. Sinclair for his commitment over a long number of years. Whilst pregnancy is only a relevant question to those whose biological sex or sex assigned at birth is female, sex assigned at birth is not always visually clear to staff. As a public body, we take cognizance of changes in society around how such questions may be asked without discrimination and have a duty to promote inclusiveness – therefore all donors are now asked the same questions.’
It was unclear if Sinclair went to another clinic to donate blood.