A woman looking for a quick $60 said she resorted to donating plasma—but the experience wasn’t quite what she signed up for.
TikTok user Hailey Gunby (@bibivvitch) said she was told that she could donate plasma to make extra money. But when the phlebotomist went to draw her blood, she ended up puncturing one of Gunby’s arteries by mistake. As a result, Gunby was both unable to donate plasma and left with a large bruise on her arm, inside of her elbow.
“[Expletive], this was not worth $60,” Gunby said. “My arm hurts.” As of Thursday, her video recounting her experience had amassed more than 324,200 views.
What happened?
Gunby said that the phlebotomist who drew her blood “literally had this plastic shield over her face.” When she went in with the needle, though, Gunby said she looked in the other direction because the needle was large.
“I feel the needle go in and she gasps so dramatically,” Gunby said of the phlebotomist. At first, Gunby said she didn’t understand the woman’s over-the-top reaction and assumed she was joking around. But then she looked at her arm.
“Blood is literally spraying out of my arm like a gosh darn Mentos in a Coke bottle,” Gunby said.
Gunby said the worker tried to assure her this was the result of a “little nick” on the artery. Turns out that wasn’t exactly true. Gunby’s husband reportedly told her that her face immediately turned white and Gunby said that she “passed the [expletive] out.”
“I didn’t even end up getting to donate plasma,” she said. “They still gave me the $60, but I’ll never be broke enough for this.”
Arterial punctures are rare
According to Olgam Life, a plasma donation center, an arterial puncture happens when a technician accidentally hits your artery versus a vein.
Arteries, it said, have much higher pressure than veins and puncturing them can cause heavy bleeding, as Gunby experienced. However, fixing the problem is rather simple: The website noted that a phlebotomist can address the problem “by withdrawing the needle and applying pressure to the puncture site for around 10 minutes.”
But according to the National Library of Medicine, these punctures rarely occur. In a 2001 study, they identified only 12 cases of arterial punctures over a two year period. Of the 12, four patients experienced significant bruising. It noted, however, that the rate of bruising in the general donation pool is low—at 0.35%.
They also mentioned a correlation between arterial punctures and “newly trained staff.”
“In 40 years of practice, I have never heard and certainly never experienced such an event,” a retired U.S. Navy medical officer said in a 2020 Quora thread. They noted that if a puncture occurred, the entire donation session would likely be canceled to allow the donor to heal. In addition, because some values differ in arterial versus venous blood, the sample would not be used.
Issues with donating plasma
Gunby is certainly not the first content creator to share that she’s had issues donating plasma. Last November, another woman said that BioLife, a different plasma donation center, incorrectly diagnosed her with Hepatitis B. She said the faulty diagnosis put her on a national register list that prevented her from ever donating plasma.
It wasn’t until the woman received a follow-up blood test analysis at her doctor’s office that she found out she did not, in fact, have Hepatitis B.
“When I tell you I sobbed and I had to sign a piece of paper, like, that I will never donate to BioLife again,” the woman said.
It doesn’t appear as though these are isolated incidents, however. In the comments under Gunby’s video, many other users shared similarly harrowing experiences they’ve had while trying to donate plasma.
“The first time I gave plasma, that’s how my arm looked. The second time I gave plasma, it [hurt] bad. I threw up and was super dizzy,” one woman shared. “I think it depends on the phlebotomist and their experience.”
“This happened my first time too—hurt so bad,” another added. “Never going back.”
“Girl, I walked out with a huge bubble in my arm,” a third viewer wrote.
Others, meanwhile, questioned whether Gunby could take legal action.
“That’s a law suit waiting to happen,” one viewer said.
“You can sue them for that,” another wrote. “It can be a massive issue.”
@bibivvitch Help 😭 #fyp #fypシ #fy #storytime #bruise #plasma #crazy #crazystory ♬ original sound – Hails
The Daily Dot reached out to Gunby via TikTok comment.
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The post ‘This was not worth $60’: Woman donates plasma for extra cash. Then a worker hits an artery appeared first on The Daily Dot.
