I used to donate, but stopped due to some bad experiences. It started when a friend asked me and another coworker if we'd donate blood as a stock for his wife's surgery since we were the same blood type as she was and he knew we didn't do drugs or anything that would cause her to get complications from our blood.
Bad experience #1 was getting a call from the doctor after that donation. She left me a VM saying, and I quote, "Please call us here at [blood bank] as there is a problem with your blood that I need to discuss as soon as possible." This was around the time AIDS was making the news and even though I didn't fit the profile of the typical patient at the time, you never know. I exercise by jumping to conclusions and figured I was the lucky exception in this case. Turns out my triglycerides were elevated and she wanted to make sure I saw my doctor to get it checked/resolved.
That I could forgive, I wrote it off as typical lack of bedside manner from a doctor, but event #2 ended it for me.
The other friend had never donated before this and he liked the idea so when he was eligible again, he went on his own to to do a repeat. About the time I was wondering when he'd be back to work, I get a cheery call from the blood bank telling that my friend is a not feeling well and could I come pick him up. I wasn't lead to believe that there was anything serious so I joked with the person and told her to tell my friend that if he puked in my new truck on the way back, he'd walk the rest of the way. I walk into the place, it's December in Chicago and they have the AC cranked and my friend is huddled on the floor shivering and looking half-dead. And I'm feeling like an idiot over my puke remark. One of the people had the guy's wife on the phone and the rest are trying to convince me to take him back to work. I started arguing that if anything, he needed to go to the hospital and if they weren't going to call 911, I would. His wife heard me so she demanded to talk to me, and the person on the phone with her whispered to me to calm her down and tell her everything was OK. Nothing doing, she asked me point blank if they were feeding her a line of bull, and I said yes, and he really needed to go to the ER.
I followed the ambulance to the hospital and waited there for his wife to come. They wouldn't let me in since I wasn't family so I went back to work and told her to call when she was able and if she needed help. Fortunately, the situation ended OK, and I think it was more nerves and lack of food beforehand than anything they did, but I was really PO'ed that medical people basically were concerned with hustling him out of there with as little inconvenience to themselves as possible. They may not have caused his problem but they dropped the ball once the problem surfaced and I decided that I couldn't trust them with my health after that.
Sorry for the novel......