#but the safest practice is to just. not give rhesus positive blood to rhesus negative women who can theoretically have kids

[theteaisaddictive]

i fully understand the reasoning why, but there's something so . . . clinically sterile about the phrase 'd-negative female patients of childbearing potential'

eta: all other slides used the phrase ‘d-negative individuals of childbearing potential’, which at the bare minimum is more inclusive in language. the earlier bit must have been missed when they were reviewing the module.

#gives me the ick lol #anyway the reason for it is that if you are rhesus negative #and you are exposed to rhesus positive blood #your body will produce antibodies to attack the rhesus positive blood #which doesn't SOUND like a big deal unless you become pregnant and your unborn kid is rhesus positive #your body basically attacks the foetus bc of the incompatible blood types #nowadays you can get injections to negate the antibodies in pregnancy if the risk is identified #but the safest practice is to just. not give rhesus positive blood to rhesus negative women who can theoretically have kids #i get why childfree women might object to this but also. we don't know you personally. it is safer to have a blanket policy. #that way nobody falls through the cracks and ends up potentially being exposed to something which could cause harm #fun fact this also doesn't just happen during blood transfusions! #my mum is rh- and i'm rh+; if she'd had another kid after me she would've had to have those injections during her pregnancy