Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

amitguptaneedsyou.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 247 posts

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#211

Post by pbhjpbhj »

knieveltech wrote: post #167
morrow wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also aware of the statistics - roughly split between gays and heterosexuals. I think the problem lies more with the epistemological side of things. As the marrow registry, how do you know whether or not someone is gay? How do you know whether someone is HIV positive? Only one of these questions actually matters for donors, and only one of them is scientifically testable. I'd agree with people who are okay with pr…

To hell with screening, if I was on death's door courtesy of leukemia I'd rather accept a transplant from someone I know is HIV positive. My logic: given the state of anti-retrovirals, being HIV positive sounds downright cushy compared to dying of leukemia.

I'm pretty sure you could get that operation, but not on health insurance of any kind.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#212

Post by pbhjpbhj »

caryme wrote: post #121
artursapek wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they enforce this?

At least in the blood ban in the US, the only enforcement is the honesty policy. The irony with this is that the men who are honest about having sex with men are also more likely to be aware of their HIV status than men who lie at the blood bank. I feel the same as nostromo every time I am asked to give blood. I know I'm HIV-negative. I'm not South Asian, so I couldn't help Amit anyway.

>men who lie at the blood bank. //

Isn't the only real reason to lie because you're doing it for yourself and not really to try and help other people?

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#213

Post by ra »

haugstrup wrote: post #187
ramblerman wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, as a European I'm Offended. But seriously what's the motivation behind this?

BSE/Mad Cow fears. Because of the BSE outbreak in the UK in the 80s (and the various smaller outbreaks later) the US authorities were scared shitless at some point. So if you've lived 5 or more years in Europe you're banned from donating blood forever. Not sure I understand the logic... Quarantine for a set period I can understand, but banning for life makes little sense. After all there are many blood donors in all…

I was born in the UK and was a teenager during the mad cow / CJD years.

I've lived in Australia for 14 years and I'm still not allowed to give blood here. I doubt I ever will.

But it never occurred to me that organ donation is affected in the same way.

EDIT: Be sure to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt-Jakob_Disease#Epide...

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#214

Post by 4ad »

jacoblyles wrote: post #181
jarek wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your grand-grandparent post quite emphatically is FUD. Being MSM is positively correlated with a pattern of behaviour that elevates risk of HIV. So is being a college student. So is serial monogamy. So is being a heterosexual male. Singling out one of these while making no attempt to break down the diverse group MSM by further detailing high-risk behaviour and black-marking it with an ominous question like "Do you re…

I'm sorry if reality offends anyone's PC sensibilities, but in the US MSM account for 49% of HIV cases[1] despite accounting for a small percentage of the population. MSM are MUCH more likely to get HIV than, say, frat boys who casually hook up with a lot of females. I'm not sure if the ban is completely justified, but there is potential reason behind it. [1] http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/fastfacts-msm-fin…

49% of HIV cases are MSM, not 49% of MSMs have HIV, don't twist it around. You are trying to make it sound much worse than it really is, when in fact it's a non-issue, thus spreading FUD. Very few MSMs have HIV.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#215

Post by skrebbel »

nostromo wrote: post #78

Since I'm still gay, I'm not allowed to help, no matter how many times you ask. I get why they do this and I shouldn't let it bother me, but emotionally it feels the same as if they just said, "Please become a donor, nohomo." edit: Of course I still wish the very best for Amit.

I don't understand anything about this. In the US, straight persons can't get AIDS and gay persons can? Or, what's the point? Anyone care to explain?

It sounds like nothing but Alan Turing-style discrimination based on fairy tales to me (but I might miss a point. like that research that proved that being gay is genetic and the same gene also causes sloppy bone marrow)

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#216

Post by blahedo »

tomjen3 wrote: post #180
nostromo wrote: post #78

Since I'm still gay, I'm not allowed to help, no matter how many times you ask. I get why they do this and I shouldn't let it bother me, but emotionally it feels the same as if they just said, "Please become a donor, nohomo." edit: Of course I still wish the very best for Amit.

Get tested for a match anyway - if you match you can always say you didn't read the papers very carefully and that as gay person you can't donate. Then when he dies we have somebody to point to and say "this person could have been saved, but for your bigotry".

Also, the rule may have been fixed by the time the match comes up.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#217

Post by tibbon »

skrebbel wrote: post #215
nostromo wrote: post #78

Since I'm still gay, I'm not allowed to help, no matter how many times you ask. I get why they do this and I shouldn't let it bother me, but emotionally it feels the same as if they just said, "Please become a donor, nohomo." edit: Of course I still wish the very best for Amit.

I don't understand anything about this. In the US, straight persons can't get AIDS and gay persons can? Or, what's the point? Anyone care to explain? It sounds like nothing but Alan Turing-style discrimination based on fairy tales to me (but I might miss a point. like that research that proved that being gay is genetic and the same gene also causes sloppy bone marrow)

I don't get it either. African-American women are one of the fastest rising HIV+ groups in the US, yet they aren't banned. Yes, anyone can transmit HIV.

The policy is ignorant and based upon the idea that all men who have sex with other men are unsafe, promiscuous, and an hiv test won't be effective as they may have had a recent exposure that is essentially untestable. Its a holdover from the 80's when people were afraid of catching the 'gay disease'.

In my view, unless there is some test for being gay (there isn't) then just go ahead and register. If you're a match, then make sure you're hiv negative and haven't had any risky behavior in the past few months and you should be good to go.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#218

Post by tibbon »

corin_ wrote: post #134
djacobs wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is correct. Why isn't the question "Have you had unprotected sex in the last 3 months? Can we give you a blood test today?" This seems a lot more sane than "There's this group that we used to consider high risk for HIV. We're not willing to scientifically test for it. Are you a part of this group?"

They would do the test on your blood regardless (they do it on all blood). Regarding the 3 months: the UK only just changed it from a lifetime ban for MSM to 12 months - they feel that 12 is safer, many people have argued that this is still over the top. I'm not a doctor, and I'm not well enough informed to tell you who is right on this. Countries that do have a lifetime ban certainly need their policies updated. Reg…

The policy still doesn't add up. They really should just ask anyone if they've had unsafe sex outside of a monogamous and std tested relationship in 3/12 months.

I could very well have had sex with 100 women in the past 3 months (as a man) and been unsafe with all of them. Yet, they don't seem to be the least bit worried about that scenario.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#219

Post by tibbon »

tshtf wrote: post #124
rms wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could just check "no" on the box if you did really want to donate.

Kevin, How do you feel about lying?

I'm morally flexible here. Its a silly policy based on ignorance and fear. If someone gay knows they are safe, why should they feel bad about lying, when a straight person who hasn't been tested and has had unprotected sex recently could walk in and have no issue donating?

Also, it would seem that hiv is honestly less bad than dying of having no match for acute leukemia, but I'm not doctor can't say for sure.

Re: Amit Gupta hasn't found a marrow transplant match; today's your last chance.

#220

Post by chimeracoder »

skrebbel wrote: post #215
nostromo wrote: post #78

Since I'm still gay, I'm not allowed to help, no matter how many times you ask. I get why they do this and I shouldn't let it bother me, but emotionally it feels the same as if they just said, "Please become a donor, nohomo." edit: Of course I still wish the very best for Amit.

I don't understand anything about this. In the US, straight persons can't get AIDS and gay persons can? Or, what's the point? Anyone care to explain? It sounds like nothing but Alan Turing-style discrimination based on fairy tales to me (but I might miss a point. like that research that proved that being gay is genetic and the same gene also causes sloppy bone marrow)

I don't understand it either. I actually wrote a really long post asking for someone to explain this policy to me, and nobody was able to.

I won't copy-paste it, but if anyone's interested, it's here: http://bit.ly/q6624N

Post reply on HN