[tait]

I would love to see more donor centers allow hemochromatosis patients to donate.

I think there is not actually regulatory ban. Last I looked into this, it was because of the conflict of interest - the FDA requires blood from donors with hemochromatosis be labeled as such.

And even that requirement can be worked around. See, for example, https://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/blooddonor/donationtypes/hemo.... Background, most centers charge for therapeutic phlebotomy but obviously not for volunteer blood donation. The exception is permissable if the center agrees to allow the patient's blood to be drawn for free, whether or not they would qualify as a blood donor.

The issue with "getting value" from donating is that people sometimes lie in order to be able to get that value. The downstream issues can be very painful - I have personally taken care of patients who got HIV or hepatitis from blood transfusion. I am pretty sure any of them would emphatically agree it is important to ensure the blood supply is as safe as possible.

So it can be done, but it has to be done carefully.