Aspirin and Altruism

I have a patient in his mid-60s with multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease. He has hypertension and hyperlipidemia controlled with medication. He’s got mild, diet-controlled diabetes, and his father dropped dead of a heart attack at age 51. At least he doesn’t smoke. This is a patient who should clearly be taking low dose aspirin daily for cardiovascular prophylaxis. But: For the last 20 years, ever since his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, he has been a platelet donor. Every month without fail, he goes to donate. Even after his wife passed away, he’s kept it up. Month in, month out. Aspirin works by inactivating platelets. It wouldn’t do the recipients of his donations any good to receive defective platelets. So he has made the conscious decision to live with a slightly higher risk of heart attack or stroke so that he can continue to help others as a platelet donor. Now that is altruism.
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs