Pursuit of pharmaceutical purity of the blood in the bag has led to a shrinking donor base and a significantly more expensive\r\nproduct. Decisions regarding new infectious marker testing and donor deferrals have typically been made emphasizing decreasing\r\none specific risk without considering the effect the intervention will have on the overall safety and availability of blood transfusion.\r\nRegulations have been formulated by governmental agencies with limited input from the medical community. The decision making\r\nprocess has lacked risk benefit analyses and has not had the robustness associated with spirited discussions. Policies made in this\r\nmanner may result in certain risks being decreased but can also have adverse unintended consequences. Being guided by the ethical\r\nprinciples of nonmaleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice, we need to evaluate our actions in the context of overall blood\r\nsafety rather than narrowly focusing on any one area.
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