Penn LDI Researchers Warn of Rising Cardiac Deaths in Prisons
Study Finds Major Gaps in Cardiac Care Behind Bars
In Their Own Words
All I Want for the New Year is a Chance to Give Blood: How Outdated Rules Restrict Gay Men from Donating
A Call for Policy Change
Print:
The following excerpt is from an op-ed that first appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer on December 27, 2022.
In the wake of landmark bipartisan approval of legislation to legalize same-sex marriage across the country, it is time to repair the policy that uniquely discriminates against a large group of men who want to give blood.
Some may be as surprised as I was to learn that the current rule discriminates against men who have sex with men. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently reviewing its policy, which began during the early days of the HIV epidemic, well before treatment for HIV was commonplace, and long before testing for the virus was as accurate as it is today. The agency is expected to update its guidance soon, with leading organizations such as the American Red Cross in support of needed changes.
As a physician, and a gay married man who has been monogamous for close to 17 years, I first confronted this antiquated legislation when my husband and I decided to do what we could at the beginning of the pandemic. At that time, there was a severe blood shortage, and we scheduled appointments to donate blood.
Only then did we discover that we needed to attest to being celibate for three months before being allowed to donate blood. We were shocked. I mean, our children may call us “old-school,” but they would never mistake us for monks. This policy had been in place since 2020, before which the FDA-sanctioned “deferral” time for men who had sex with men was 12 months of celibacy.
There was a time when this approach was justified. But not now.
Read the entire op-ed, here.
Author
Kevin B. Johnson, MD, MS
Professor, Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Informatics and Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine; Professor, Computer and Information Science, and Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science; Professor, Science Communication, Annenberg School for Communication
More on Health Equity
From Classroom to Clinic: High School Students Get Hands-On Experience in Addiction Medicine
Penn Medicine’s New Summer Intern Program Immersed Teens in Street Outreach Techniques
Penn LDI CICADA Initiative Names Researchers for 2025-2026 Cohort
Eighth Year of Program That Recruits, Mentors and Develops Junior Faculty for Health Services Research
Exclusion of Abortion and Abortion Counseling from the VA Medical Benefits Package
Comment: Submitted to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Impact of Proposed Changes to the Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service on the Home Care Workforce
Comment: Delivered to the U.S. Department of Labor
Fragmented Geographic Distribution of Providers Suggests Limited Access to Basic Health Care for Dual Medicaid-Medicare Beneficiaries
Less Than 1% of Clinical Practices Provide 80% of Outpatient Services for Dually Eligible Individuals
U.S. Children Are Suffering: A Generation Grows Up Sicker, Sadder, and Dying Sooner
From Anxiety and Loneliness to Obesity and Gun Deaths, a Sweeping New Study Uncovers a Devastating Decline in the Health and Well-Being of U.S. Children
Older Black Adults With Abdominal Pain Are Less Likely to Get Emergency Department Imaging
Chart of the Day: National Study Shows White Patients More Likely Than Black Patients to Get CT and/or Ultrasounds for Abdominal Pain in the Emergency Department