$50 per draw, for time and expenses, not for the blood draw itself.

I also agree that they pay for time and travel expense.

They wouldn’t.

When I was in the hospital earlier this year they took 4 tubes of blood four times a day – they didn’t pay me a cent! I got a bill for it!

Seriously, they should reimburse transport. $50 a draw seems generous. $25 is what came to mind.

I’d think about $100 per draw. Although that’s not really what would make the decision.

I believe part of what you’re being paid for here isn’t the blood, or even the time, it’s the consent to your cells for whatever they’d like to use them for in perpetuity.

Henrietta Lacks got a lot of public attention recently, I’m guessing lawyers writing agreements for patient studies have quite a bit in there regarding what you’re selling.

Maybe there’s a gene for luck. ~

Can you divulge how much you were paid?

I’m pretty finicky about giving up my free time, so I probably wouldn’t participate in such a study. However, I did participate in a study where the phlebotomist came to my home to take the blood. I would’ve done it for no compensation since it was so damn convenient and I was just interested in furthering the science (it was a Crohn’s study so my blood was ~useful~) but they paid me $50 per visit. Not a bad deal given I was unemployed at the time.

BTW, good on you for giving up your time and blood for the sake of furthering medical research!

They would have to pay me far more than $100 per draw (assuming 10mL for each tube of blood).

I need all the RBC’s that I can get as I’m continually competing in canoe races and also regularly train hard.

Also I have lower than normal blood pressure at rest.

But if I was non athletic and had higher blood pressure then I’d donate to a good cause for free.

I would do it for $50. Better use of my time than watching TV or randomly surfing the web.

I’d do it for free if the study promised great benefits to people somewhere and the study was an academic/scienctific venture, not a commercial one.

They paid $50 for my time, travel, and discomfort.
I was surprised. I thought I was doing it for free.
To be honest if someone offered to pay me $50 to drive all that way, and have blood drawn I would never do it.

As long as it was for a good cause, meaning it was likely to help find a cure for a debilitating disease, like in your case with participating in a study, or to help someone who needed the blood, I’d do it for free.

I went through the 18 pages of information about the study protocol and they do, indeed, pay $50 for a blood draw. Unnecessary, but I won’t refuse it.
Some tests are $75. I actually got paid for a 2D EchoCardiogram! It was so interesting and fun I would have paid good money to have that done!