Keeping blood donors and patients who will receive their blood safe from harm is a massive responsibility. Dr. Mindy Goldman describes tough decisions made in Canada in recent years.
NOTE: Continuing Education credit for this episode has expired. See below for details.
Dr. Mindy Goldman
Tough Choices
Dr. Mindy Goldman, Medical Director at Canadian Blood Services (CBS), is deeply involved in the evaluation of those core questions. As a result, I wanted her to describe Canada’s decisions on two big issues: First, whether to impose an upper age limit on blood donors, and second, how long to defer men from blood donation who have had intimate contact with other men.
A Quick But Important Word
Some statements in this interview, especially those regarding the discussions about deferrals for males who have had sexual contact with other males (MSM) will inevitably be viewed differently by those who view all such deferrals as discriminatory and by those who find them appropriate. This interview discusses the rationale of why Dr. Goldman and CBS chose to reduce the deferral period to 3 months (the current US deferral for MSM, at this writing, is 12 months). While this is a highly charged issue regardless of your personal views, this interview should not be interpreted as anything but educational. I welcome your respectful discussion of this interview in the comments below.
Dr. Mindy Goldman
Tough Choices
Dr. Mindy Goldman, Medical Director at Canadian Blood Services (CBS), is deeply involved in the evaluation of those core questions. As a result, I wanted her to describe Canada’s decisions on two big issues: First, whether to impose an upper age limit on blood donors, and second, how long to defer men from blood donation who have had intimate contact with other men.
A Quick But Important Word
Some statements in this interview, especially those regarding the discussions about deferrals for males who have had sexual contact with other males (MSM) will inevitably be viewed differently by those who view all such deferrals as discriminatory and by those who find them appropriate. This interview discusses the rationale of why Dr. Goldman and CBS chose to reduce the deferral period to 3 months (the current US deferral for MSM, at this writing, is 12 months). While this is a highly charged issue regardless of your personal views, this interview should not be interpreted as anything but educational. I welcome your respectful discussion of this interview in the comments below.
About My Guest:
Mindy Goldman, MD is the Medical Director, Donor and Clinical Services at Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Canada, and an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa. She is a clinical hematologist with extra training in Transfusion Medicine.
Over her career, Dr. Goldman has focused on evaluation and implementation of donor eligibility policies to ensure safety for both patients and donors. Her areas of interest for donor safety include development of common international definitions for donor reactions, assessment of the upper age limit for donation, and mitigation strategies for prevention of vasovagal reactions and iron depletion in donors. On the other hand, her main focus of interest for recipient safety has been evaluation and evolution of deferral policies for men who have sex with men.
Mindy is currently on the Board of Directors of the ISBT, and is active in many international professional societies, including AABB and the BEST collaborative. She is a frequent contributor to the medical literature and with Dr. Anne Eder, a co-editor of the 2019 AABB Press publication “Screening Blood Donors with the Donor History Questionnaire.”
Continuing Education Expired
This podcast episode offered continuing education credit for two years from its release date, but is no longer eligible for such credit.
To find Blood Bank Guy Essentials Podcast episodes with active continuing education opportunities, Click here or visit Transfusion News Continuing Education on Wiley Health Learning.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this episode are those of my guest and I alone, and do not reflect those of the organizations with which either of us is affiliated. Neither Dr. Goldman nor I have any relevant financial disclosures.
Further Reading:
- BEST Collaborative article about safety of older donors:Goldman M et al. Safety of blood donation by individuals over age 70 and their contribution to the blood supply in five developed countries: a BEST Collaborative group study. Transfusion 2019;59:1267-1272
- Dr. Goldman’s summary of policies for male donors who have had sex with other men:Goldman M et al. Donor deferral policies for men who have sex with men: Past, present, and future. Vox Sanguinis 2018;113:95-103
Thanks to:
- Dr. Daniela Hermelin, Assistant Editor; Follow Daniela on Twitter for fantastic #blooducation!
- Samantha Chaffin, Design and content consultant
Music Credit
Music for this episode includes “Cuando te invade el temor” and “Reflejo,” both by Mar Virtual via the Free Music Archive. Click the image below for permissions and license details.
Hi, Blood Bank Guy! 😀 YouTube messaged me about the video upload from Lifestream. I’ll be there (well, “here” actually) donating platelets this Sunday. Stay well, and never stop teaching! 😉 Or learning, of course!
Forgive the blunt question, is there any reason to defer MSM but not anal sex in general? Male and female anatomy in that particular area is virtually identical, and I would think the risk is equivalent.
Jackie, there continues to be much discussion on assessing risk, and your question is one of those that those who set up regulatory guidelines are considering, from what I understand. Since this podcast was released, the US Food and Drug Administration changed their deferral for males having sexual contact with other males from 1 year to 3 months (at least, for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic). It will be interesting to see where future considerations take us, but I have no visibility into those deliberations.
-Joe