In case of nuclear war, check under left arm

December 13, 2017 12:39 PM

Inspired by this comment, I thought I would learn a little more about blood type tattoos.

Apparently first used by SS members in Nazi Germany, concern about blood supply during the Korean War (with nuclear war looming in the background) led several people in the civil defense program in the US to propose tattooing people's blood type under their arm. This was not done so much to identify potential recipient's blood type as to speed the process of donation in a mass casualty event. The only two programs that were implemented were in Indiana and Utah (perhaps with the support of the Mormon Church). More info at Conelrad.com, including an update. The use of blood-type tattoos was short lived, lasting less than a year, and ultimately failed because physicians did not trust tattoos for medical information.

posted by TedW (13 comments total)

The use of blood-type tattoos was short lived, lasting less than a year, and ultimately failed because physicians did not trust tattoos for medical information.

Tangentially related, but interesting.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:55 PM on December 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

My history teacher in high school's sister had one of these. When my history teacher was of age to get a tattoo, she got her blood type tattooed there out of solidarity. Of course, we as 15 year olds in 1995 were more "Ooooh, you have a tattoo!" rather than wondering about the history behind it.

It would have been a cool lesson back in the day, but she mentioned it in passing as part of some other subject. I'm happy to have the lesson now though, thanks!
posted by mikesch at 1:05 PM on December 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

O-NEGATIVE HI-OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
posted by infinitewindow at 1:05 PM on December 13, 2017 [18 favorites]

Very relevant Soviet music: "Blood Type" by Kino (translation).
posted by archagon at 1:14 PM on December 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

My father's Vietnam War dog tags have the wrong blood type on them. I'm not surprised doctors did not trust blood-type tattoos.
posted by crush at 1:21 PM on December 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

My parents and all of my aunts have blood type tattoos, thanks to Lake County, Indiana. They're barely visible now and not legible.

The doctor in my small hometown laughed in her face when she told him about the tattoo. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," he said. "No doctor would ever trust it."

Which is a good thing, because my mom's is wrong.
posted by mudpuppie at 1:53 PM on December 13, 2017 [11 favorites]

Huh, that DNR tattoo is interesting. It seems to me that unless it's clearly a fresh tattoo, it should be respected - because if you've had that tattoo long enough to heal, then you've had it long enough to get someone to tattoo over it if it was a stupid mistake (and I know tattoo artists who would definitely do that for free).
(And also making sure it was healed would prevent the Law And Order scenarios I came up with where you tattoo someone else with a DNR and then throw them under a bus).
posted by the agents of KAOS at 2:28 PM on December 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

I know someone who has a bad needle phobia plus had to get a bunch of surgeries in a row. They always ask if they can minimize blood draws but doctors gonna doctor. One time I was there just before going into surgery and they went to do another blood draw. "For what?" "To get your blood type." "But I've had procedures here before, why don't you have it from last time?" "Because it could have changed." Doctors don't even trust their own records so it's not surprising they wouldn't trust someone else's. I guess it makes sense if it's something that could kill the person, why risk it,
posted by bleep at 3:02 PM on December 13, 2017

Besides simply being incorrect—from Wikipedia's blood type article:

Almost always, an individual has the same blood group for life, but very rarely an individual's blood type changes through addition or suppression of an antigen in infection, malignancy, or autoimmune disease. Another more common cause in blood type change is a bone marrow transplant.

posted by XMLicious at 3:08 PM on December 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

The LDS church connection re: Utah "atomic tattoos" is amusing, considering the church itself frowns on tattooing.
posted by elsietheeel at 3:11 PM on December 13, 2017

…very rarely an individual's blood type changes…

Previously
posted by TedW at 4:10 PM on December 13, 2017

ABO blood type is just one of many many many inmune system elements that can
fuck up a blood transfusion. It's an organ transplant. Each time you get a (non super emergent) transfusion, a small sample of recipient blood and donor blood is mixed to see if they are compatible. It is much better to check for a reaction when these bloods meet in the test tube than in the human body. And while the ABO on your recipient blood cells is unlikely to change, your immune system response to donor blood elements might.

So we check, every time.
posted by chiquitita at 10:19 PM on December 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

Popping in that my MIL texted to confirm IN tattooing was a thing and she was feeling kind of left out because she missed the day of school it happened and thus does not have a tattoo, but most of her peers from there do. She would have been in kindergarten or first grade when the tattoos were done.

The blood type stuff posted here is absolutely fascinating.
posted by AlexiaSky at 11:50 PM on December 13, 2017