Not just a "simple swab"

The New York Times says "a simple swab can make you a lifesaver" -- that is, if a swab of the DNA in your cheeks shows that you're a match to donate bone marrow to a patient with a blood disease.

The article's strong implication is that everybody should do this. After all, this little thing could be such a big thing for a sick person, right?

Well, no. If you're a match, you won't necessarily, as the Times reports, have to go through the severe pain of a long needle being stuck into your bone, as was always the case earlier. (Some patients still need marrow harvested by the more painful and invasive method, which the Times does not mention.) But you'll still have to stick yourself with a needle for five days, taking a drug that can cause pain in your bones, and undergo a two- to four-hour procedure to have your blood cells harvested -- all for a complete stranger whom you know nothing about.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't do that for just anyone. I'd do it for someone I loved, certainly -- probably even for someone I like and respect. But I wouldn't do it for a stranger. It's not "just a swab," and I dislike the implication that it's a moral obligation to make part of my body available just in case a random stranger needs it.