Standard Laboratory Procedure
This is the normal procedure that we have all gone through when we have blood drawn: The laboratory technician puts a tourniquet on our arm, asks us to make a fist, presses to find the vein, washes the area with a disinfectant, pokes us with a needle, removes several vials of blood, places a cotton ball on the wound and has us hold it there. She then labels the vials, removes the bloody gauze, and puts the bandage on. The patient leaves her office with a relieved smile and weighing a couple ounces lighter.
The above is pretty much the standard procedure for collecting blood. We presume that since it is the standard procedure there are no flaws or health risks involved. However, nothing can be further from the truth. If you continue to read through my pages, you will find this procedure puts you at risk. You will learn what the risks are and why you don't want to take that risk.
When I have my blood drawn, I politely ask the technician to wear latex gloves. Sometimes they will but sometimes they ignore this request. This is wide-spread and has happened to me during 2002 in Labrador City, St. John's (Canada) and in Tulsa (USA). Some reasons I've been given for not wearing gloves include: they're uncomfortable, the hospital does not carry the correct size, they're hot, or they have not learned to take blood while wearing them. If they do wear gloves, they frequently rip the end out of the glove's finger or take off the gloves before they remove the bloody gauze.
Another reason I've been told for not wearing latex gloves is because the alcohol pad will kill the HCV virus; however, research shows the only way to kill the virus is a ten minute soak in a ten percent chlorine (Javax or Clorox) solution. Do you really think the laboratory technician soaks his/her fingers in this solution for ten minutes between patients? The virus can continue to live in dried blood for several weeks.
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