233 Comments

Indie game maker NPCKC made a short visual novel about exactly that idea. It's called Tomato Clinic. Here's her storenpckc dot itch dot io

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I lived in Montana for four years at the turn of the century (jeez, that sounds OLD); such a beautiful state. My spouse would love to return, but I couldn't live there with all this stupidity.

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My eyes glazed over when I read that. How are people this fucking stupid?

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I used to donate blood often, too - blood drives at work. I would eat raisins to help get my iron up - there were a few times that they'd have to centrifuge my blood to see if they could accept it...

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Since when do morticians have “patients?” Isn’t their main job making sure the right corpse has been put into the right coffin?

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I can’t get past the fact that these aren’t random kooks on the internet saying these things. These are elected officials with the power to decide which laws are enacted.

What does this say about the people who vote for them?

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The big reveal for my was finding out undertakers think of the carcasses as "patients". I guess the stiffs really are in no particular hurry.

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I don't suppose these folks, being Republicans and all, considered that they're only source of blood donations with this bill as law would be antivaxxers who might not be the most consistent blood donors.

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I was in a similar position, living here and making trips to the UK to visit friends and family. Reached a point where the American Red Cross figured I had spent too much time in the UK (cumulative time of just a few months, truth be told), so I could no longer donate blood.

Now that they have lifted the ban, I will have to see about donating once again.

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"I'm a Doctor, Jim, not a mortician..."

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What? They cannot be blood donors???

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I donated blood until the late '80s, when they inserted a question about whether you'd had unprotected gay sex after 1978. I had, once, and answered truthfully, and haven't been able to donate since. I've had AIDS tests half a dozen times for surgeries and such, always negative, but they still won't let me donate. Seems dumb to me. If they're having shortages it's their own fault at this point.

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Leeches do have a valid medical usage, although of course not the original use. When digits are reattached the return blood flow sometimes gets trapped, and if it's not drained will clot and kill the tissue. Attaching a leech to the end of the digit allows the blood to be drained until the return flow establishes itself.

I know far too much trivia.

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I tried to give blood once but failed miserably at it. For some reason, once the needle was attached and the blood was flowing, I kept flashing about blood-related horror stuff I'd read or seen, and before I knew it I was ready to pass out. I just can't do it.

Years later, I read in some column about the singles scene that one woman would regularly pressure a new beau, or wannabe beau, into donating blood as a "wimp test." When I read that, my blood, so to speak, boiled. Lady, you just flunked my bitch test.

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Aussie Red Cross doesn't want my blood because I am trans and in a relationship with a bloke

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That requirement is well outdated and ripe for removal. I'm sorry you have to endure that.

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