History Main / ABNegative

** A plot-relevant example occurs in one episode, where they realize that a victim isn't who they think she is because of her blood type; the mother of the person she's claiming to be has type A blood, but the victim has type B, which can't happen.

** The episode "Your Hit Parade" in Season 6 features an AB- patient during a period of heavy casualties. Hawkeye asks for 4 units during surgery, Klinger informs they only had 2 to start with and both were used during the first batch of wounded. They mention collecting the patient's blood during surgery to filter and give back to him, then spend the rest of the episode trying to find more. The unavailability of any donors is partly justified by the heavy casualties and the other medical units being forced to bug out, but it is implied there are only 2 other people available to donate in Asia with the correct blood type; not once does anyone suggest using a different blood type, even as an emergency measure. (It also creates a possible ContinuitySnarl with "Life Time" because there's apparently no one in the unit who can donate AB negative blood, but Winchester is already in the unit.)

* ''Series/{{House}}'' both lampshades the first and subverts the second. The subversion is something we expect from a medical show, while the lampshading comes later as House solves a case based on a patient's blood type (and a conversation with Wilson): the patient had blood type A, but when he was given a blood transfusion, was given the wrong type. Nobody ever thought to ASK him what his blood type even was to begin with. Then again, the fact that doctors do not ask patients their blood type is TruthInTelevision. ([[spoiler:In the episode, the patient's Lupus caused a blood test to give the wrong result]].) Many people don't know, some think they know but are wrong, and very very few people know that more than the ABO/Rh factors even exist, much less what they have. And that's assuming the patient is conscious and coherent.

In reality, while doctors do ''prefer'' to match blood type exactly when possible (especially when doing organ transplants, to reduce the risk of rejection), in a life-or-death situation -- which is the only situation this trope would find worthwhile -- any compatible blood type will do. [[note]]In a sufficiently critical situation, such as when a patient is literally going through dozens or hundreds of units, even incompatible blood can be used, with compatible units reserved for the first few and last few transfusions; all the problems that would normally result from transfusing a type O patient with type A blood are negated when the patient's own blood is long gone and the type A blood is hemorrhaged out almost immediately.[[/note]] When it comes to compatible matches, AB- blood is actually not that hard to match, because an AB- patient can receive transfusions of any Rh negative blood type (A-, B-, AB-, or O-), which are found in about 15% of the population. The most difficult type to match is actually O-, since the same factors that make O- the universal donor also mean that O- patients are only compatible with O- blood[[note]]O- being the universal donor can also reduce the availability of this type, given that it's the go-to for emergency situations where blood type is unknown and is also a fallback for all blood types when other compatible matches run out[[/note]], while every other blood type is compatible with at least itself and O-; however, O- blood is also not as rare as AB-, appearing in just under 7% of the population, so the chances of having some available or finding a donor are better.

In reality, while doctors do ''prefer'' to match blood type exactly when possible (especially when doing organ transplants, to reduce the risk of rejection), in a life-or-death situation -- which is the only situation this trope would find worthwhile -- any compatible blood type will do. [[note]]In a sufficiently critical situation, such as when a patient is literally going through dozens or hundreds of units, even incompatible blood can be used, with compatible units reserved for the first few and last few transfusions; all the problems that would normally result from transfusing a type O patient with type A blood are negated when the patient's own blood is long gone and the type A blood is hemorrhaged out almost immediately.[[/note]] When it comes to compatible matches, AB- blood is actually not that hard to match, because an AB- patient can receive transfusions of any Rh negative blood type (A-, B-, AB-, or O-), which are found in about 15% of the population. The most difficult type to match is actually O-, since the same factors that make O- the universal donor also mean that O- patients are only compatible with O- blood[[note]]O- being the universal donor can also reduce the availability of this type, given that it's the go-to for emergency situations where blood type is unknown and is also compatible with more patients when blood type ''is'' known[[/note]], while every other blood type is compatible with at least itself and O-; however, O- blood is also not as rare as AB-, appearing in just under 7% of the population.

Although most of the real world gets by quite peacefully with the more common blood types, in the world of entertainment only the rarest will do; [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail if a character's blood type is mentioned, you can bet that it's going to be rare and special]]. Blood in fiction really comes in only two types: universal donor (O-, rare) and special needs (common), so that blood banks are overtaxed whenever the plot requires. Because AB- is the rarest blood type (found in only about 1% of the population), cases of the latter will often give the character an AB- blood type.

In reality, while doctors do ''prefer'' to match blood type exactly when possible (especially when doing organ transplants, to reduce the risk of rejection), in a life-or-death situation -- which is the only situation this trope would find worthwhile -- any compatible blood type will do. [[note]]In a sufficiently critical situation, such as when a patient is literally going through dozens or hundreds of units, even incompatible blood can be used, with compatible units reserved for the first few and last few transfusions; all the problems that would normally result from transfusing a type O patient with type A blood are negated when the patient's own blood is long gone and the type A blood is hemorrhaged out almost immediately.[[/note]] When it comes to compatible matches, AB- blood is actually not that hard to match, because an AB- patient can receive transfusions of any Rh negative blood type (A-, B-, AB-, or O-), which are found in about 15% of the population. The most difficult type to match is actually O-, since the same factors that make O- the universal donor also mean that O- patients are only compatible with O- blood[[note]]O- being the universal donor can also reduce the availability of this type, given that it's more likely to be used[[/note]]; however, O- blood is also not as rare as AB-, appearing in about 7% of the population.

** The episode "Your Hit Parade" in Season 6 features an AB- patient during a period of heavy casualties. Hawkeye asks for 4 units during surgery, Klinger informs they only had 2 to start with and both were used during the first batch of wounded. They mention collecting the patient's blood during surgery to filter and give back to him, then spend the rest of the episode trying to find more. The unavailability of any donors is partly justified by the heavy casualties and the other medical units being forced to bug out, but it is implied there are only 2 other people available to donate in Asia with the correct blood type; not once does anyone suggest using a different blood type, even as an emergency measure.

* Zig-zagged in ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit''. On the subversion side, Benson and Stabler are both A-positive,the second most common blood type; on the played-straight side, Mike Dodds is B-negative, the second rarest blood type after AB-negative (and actually harder to match due to compatibility factors), and Sonny Carisi is O-negative. Making all of them an unusual case, none of the known blood types end up having any real plot significance; Carisi and Dodds' blood types are only relevant in that the former is able to donate blood to the latter (the discussion of which occupies about a minute of the relevant episode), and Benson and Stabler's never come into play at all.
** A plot-relevant example occurs in one episode, where they realize that a victim isn't who they think she is because of her blood type; the mother of the person she's claiming to be has type A blood, but the victim has type B, which can't happen.

** A plot-relevant example occurs in one episode, where they realize that an escaped kidnap victim isn't who she claims to be because her blood type is wrong.

Although most of the real world gets by quite peacefully with the more common blood types, in the world of entertainment only the rarest will do; [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail if a character's blood type is mentioned, you can bet that it's going to be rare and special]].

Blood in fiction really comes in only two types: universal donor (O-, rare) and special needs (common), so that blood banks are overtaxed whenever the plot requires. In reality, even the rarest blood type isn't all that hard to find a match for. (AB- may be the rarest blood type, being found in roughly 1% of people, but people with it are compatible with blood from roughly 1/6th of humanity. They can get blood from anyone else who is AB-, anyone who is A- or B-, and then there's O-, the universal donor, which can be found in 5-10% of humanity.) AB+ would actually be the most difficult blood type for a recipient as only AB+, O+ or O- would be compatible.

In ideal medical conditions, doctors do prefer to match blood type as exactly as possible, especially when doing organ transplants to reduce the risk of rejection, but in a life-or-death situation -- which is the only situation this trope would find worthwhile -- any compatible blood type will do. (In a sufficiently critical situation, such as when a patient is literally going through dozens or hundreds of units, even incompatible blood can be used, with compatible units reserved for the first few and last few transfusions - all the problems that would normally result from transfusing a type O patient with type A blood are negated when the patient's own blood is long gone and the type A blood is hemorrhaged out almost immediately.) The situation of needing rare blood types is an actual problem that happens in medicine, but usually deals with other red cell antigens, most of which are rarely mentioned outside the blood banking community.

** Normally averted on the show: All sorts of blood types show up and they routinely run short of all of them.

** They also had an episode about this. One wounded racist marine has a rare blood type and they tell him the only source is from a black soldier. They start applying makeup to make him darker and darker until he believes he's turning black. After they tell him he learns some tolerance.

** In another episode, a soldier is given the wrong blood and has a severe reaction. They gave the blood type listed on his dog tags - but they weren't his tags. He [[DeadPersonImpersonation stole them from a buddy who was killed]] in the attack he was wounded in because the buddy [[{{Retirony}} was going to be sent home]].

** [[Recap/MashS1E11GermWarfare An early episode]] has a North Korean patient with a rare blood type needing a transfusion, and the only one in the entire camp with the same blood type is Frank. When the patient shows signs of hepatitis, HilarityEnsues when Hawk and Trapper must keep him away from Hot Lips until his test results are in.
** The episode "Your Hit Parade" in Season 6 features an AB- patient during a period of heavy casualties. Hawkeye asks for 4 units during surgery, Klinger informs they only had 2 to start with and both were used during the first batch of wounded. They mention collecting the patient's blood during surgery to filter and give back to him, then spend the rest of the episode trying to find more. The unavailability of any donors is partly justified by the heavy casualties and the other medical units being forced to bug out, but it is implied there are only 2 other people available to donate in Asia with the correct blood type.

** This gets played about with a bit more later in the same arc when Luffy is in dire need of a blood transfusion after fighting with Hody. No one else in the Straw Hats has the same blood type, but considering how small Luffy's crew is (and how one member [[DemBones doesn't even ''have'' blood]] and another one is a reindeer), this is fairly believable. there has been blood loss at least a few times with it being dealt with offscreen, so it's implied to be not particularly rare; the Straw Hats just didn't have another ready source on hand at that particular moment. Several fishmen nearby do have compatible blood, but are still hesitant to break the law. [[spoiler: Jinbe ends up donating his blood, since he's a pirate and therefore doesn't follow the law.]]

** This gets played about with a bit more later in the same arc when Luffy is in dire need of a blood transfusion after fighting with Hody. No one else in the Straw Hats has the same blood type, but considering how small Luffy's crew is (and how one member [[DemBones doesn't even ''have'' blood]] and another one is a reindeer), this is fairly believable. there has been blood loss at least a few times with it being dealt with offscreen, so it's implied to be not particularly rare; the Straw Hats just didn't have another ready source on hand at that particular moment. Several fishmen nearby do have compatible blood, but are still hesitant to break the law. [[Spoiler: Jinbe ends up donating his blood, since he's a pirate and therefore doesn't follow the law.]]

** This gets played about with a bit more later in the same arc when Luffy is in dire need of a blood transfusion after fighting with Hody. No one else in the Straw Hats has the same blood type, but considering how small Luffy's crew is (and how one member [[DemBones doesn't even ''have'' blood]] and another one is a reindeer), this is fairly believable. Several people in the nearby crowd do have the same blood type, and there has been blood loss at least a few times with it being dealt with offscreen, so it's implied to be not particularly rare; the Straw Hats just didn't have another ready source on hand at that particular moment.

Blood in fiction really comes in only two types: universal donor (O-, rare) and special needs (common), so that blood banks are overtaxed whenever the plot requires. In reality, even the rarest blood type isn't all that hard to find a match for. (AB- may be the rarest blood type, being found in roughly 1% of people, but people with it are compatible with blood from roughly 1/6th of humanity. They can get blood from anyone else who is AB-, anyone who is A- or B-, and then there's O-, the universal donor, which can be found in 5-10% of humanity.)

* Averted in ''All The Young Men'', a long-forgotten Korean War military drama featuring a young Creator/SidneyPoitier. His white CO needs a transfusion and is Type O, but they're all out of bottled O. Guess who else is Type O. This was considered '''daring''' in 1960.

* Though it's only mentioned in [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental materials]], the fact that Mashiro in ''Anime/MaiHiME'' has AB- blood in Japan, a country mostly without the negative RH factor, serves as an early clue that she's not quite what she appears to be. Plus she shares her blood type with Fumi, along with her birthday and voice actress.

* In Japan, one's blood type is considered important. Having AB- blood apparently marks one out as, essentially, a ByronicHero (destined for leadership, intelligent, magnetic personality ''but'' prone to arrogance and poor self-control).

** The writers adapted the trope to make its use accurate and believable for the time period. It's never said that the soldier can only take AB- blood; it's stated (by Potter) that AB- blood would be the best for him. In the '50s, it was thought that the more blood the patient had lost, the more important it was to provide the exact blood type.

* Angels in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' must be identified on the computers as having [[TechnoBabble Blood Type BLUE]] before the [[HumongousMecha Evas]] can attack them. The fact that the majority of Angels are several stories tall and [[FrickinLaserBeams shoot lasers]] isn't enough of a giveaway.

* On ''Series/{{Moonlight}}'', Beth Turner has "AO-" blood, which is especially tasty to vampires. While technically a real blood group, AO is just a rather pedantic way of giving one of the two genetic possibilities for type A blood.

Not to be confused with DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch or PersonalityBloodTypes.

* In Japan, one's blood type is considered important. Having AB- blood apparently marks one out as, essentially, a ByronicHero (destined for leadership, intelligent, magnetic personality ''but'' prone to arrogance and poor self-control). Given that UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy and Creator/MarilynMonroe were AB-, perhaps they are on to something.

Blood in fiction really comes in only two types: universal donor (O-, rare) and special needs (common), so that blood banks are overtaxed whenever the plot requires. Specifically, type O is considered to be a universal donor type. In reality, even the rarest blood type isn't all that hard to find a match for. (AB- may be the rarest blood type, being found in roughly 1% of people, but people with it are compatible with blood from roughly 1/6th of humanity. They can get blood from anyone else who is AB-, anyone who is A- or B-, and then there's O-, the universal donor, which can be found in 5-10% of humanity.)

'''Bruce:''' Well I'm IB positive. I be positive they ain't touching me with no needle.

In ideal medical conditions, doctors do prefer to match blood type as exactly as possible, especially when doing organ transplants to reduce the risk of rejection, but in a life-or-death situation--which is the only situation this trope would find worthwhile--any compatible blood type will do. (In a sufficiently critical situation, such as when a patient is literally going through dozens or hundreds of units, even incompatible blood can be used, with compatible units reserved for the first few and last few transfusions - all the problems that would normally result from transfusing a type O patient with type A blood are negated when the patient's own blood is long gone and the type A blood is hemorrhaged out almost immediately.) The situation of needing rare blood types is an actual problem that happens in medicine, but usually deals with other red cell antigens, most of which are rarely mentioned outside the blood banking community.

* In the 70s {{Shoujo}} horror/romance manga ''Akuma no Hanayome'' (''Bride of Deimos''), there's a story in the manga about the main character Minako's friend who was horribly disfigured in a car accident and Deimos [[DealWithTheDevil made a deal]] to Minako that he can fix her friend's face if she agrees to marry him. She refuses his offer, so instead, she made a deal with the friend--who turns out to be a vampire, as she needed RH AB-Negative blood of young girls to keep her face from rotting once a month.
* One story in ''Manga/BlackJack'' features a rich businessman with a rare blood type. When he desperately needs a transfusion after an accident, he pays Black Jack a significant sum of money for help, and a construction worker is found who matches him. Several months later, the construction worker is himself injured. In order to help him, the businessman misses a vital plane flight and winds up losing his entire company. In the end, the best he can say is that at least he saved a life--[[spoiler:until Black Jack gives him a check for most of the money he initially paid him]].
* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', as children, Vento of the Front and her brother were injured when an amusement park ride broke down. They both needed transfusions, but they both had Type-B RH negative. Since there were no donors on hand, Vento's brother [[HeroicSacrifice told the doctors to give his remaining blood to her]]. Afterwards, Vento blamed the doctors for failing to save her brother, and developed a hatred of science.

* Ryouhei Sumi in ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula'' once gets into an accident which caused some serious loss of blood in one filler episode. His blood type (AB) is not shown, but is mentioned to be very rare, as it is difficult enough to use transfusion in case of an emergency--to the level that even though he got better, he gave up auto racing ''because'' of his blood type due to safety reasons.

* The Bombay bloodtype is used in a case of ''Manga/KindaichiCaseFiles'' as a clue to discover the killer and the town's dark secret. [[spoiler: Despite being a rarity in Japan, at least 4 characters have this blood type]].

** WordOfGod is that "Blood pattern Blue!" is a shoutout to an old Japanese scifi B-movie, in which people who see UFO's have their blood turn blue (then get discriminated against). It's an in-joke. Moreover they don't actually call it "Blood type" in the sense of AB- or O+, but "Blood Wave-Pattern" which is made up technobabble.
** Like many anime series, the blood types of the main characters are listed in the supplementary materials, and fit the "blood type theory of personality" very accurately. Shinji is Type A, and is thus weak and submissive (a majority of people in Japan are actually Type A). Asuka is the only Type O, and accordingly is a hothead (it does make sense that as she is from Germany and the only non-Japanese person on the show, she has an uncommon blood type for Japan). Misato is even wounded in one episode and they display that her specific blood type she's getting in a transfusion is "AO", although there is no functional difference between "AA" and "AO" because A is dominant.
** ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' complicates this further: an onscreen graphic notes that Unit-01 is BLUE A* while Sachiel is BLUE 04, being the fourth Angel in this continuity. Shamshel and Ramiel keeps this numbering too.

** This gets played about with a bit more later in the same arc, when Luffy is in dire need of a blood transfusion after fighting with Hody. No one else in the Straw Hats have the same blood type, but considering how small Luffy's crew is (and how one member [[DemBones doesn't even ''have'' blood]] and another one is a reindeer), this is fairly believable. Several people in the nearby crowd do have the same blood type, and there has been blood loss at least a few times with it being dealt with offscreen, so it's implied to be not particularly rare; the Straw Hats just didn't have another ready source on hand at that particular moment.

* In the first ''Manga/VampirePrincessMiyu'' OAV, [[spoiler: both Aiko and her parents]] are stated to have a "rare blood type." This turns out to be vital to the plot: [[spoiler: they're injured in an accident, there's no blood of their type in the hospital, and the fatally injured parents beg the treating doctor to [[HeroicSacrifice give their blood to Aiko]] so she will live. While Aiko does survive, she gets [[DespairEventHorizon so broken by the ordeal]] that she becomes a CreepyChild and makes a DealWithTheDevil with a vampire-like Shinma, kickstarting the plot of said OAV...]].

* In the infamous "I am Curious (Black)" ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comic, ComicBook/LoisLane turns black for a day (for a story on racism) and befriends a grassroots, er, community leader (it's never clarified what he is, he just stands on a soapbox, rants to a crowd, and later breaks up a drug deal), who hates him some crackers. When the man needs a blood transfusion, the doctor at the black hospital proclaims that the man is O-, but, horror of horrors, the hospital doesn't have enough money to carry ''all'' blood types! Luckily Lois, who has returned to her "white lady" status, is O-, and with the blood transfusion they bridge the gap of racism.

* Averted in ''All The Young Men'', a long-forgotten Korean War military drama featuring a young Sidney Poitier. His white CO needs a transfusion and is Type O, but they're all out of bottled O. Guess who else is Type O. This was considered '''daring''' in 1960.
* In ''Film/{{Andhadhun}}'', Dr. Swami says that it has been difficult to find a liver transplant for the Sheikh's daughter, since her blood type is B negative.

* ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' sees Creator/JenniferAniston proudly declare herself to be AB+ , a "very rare blood type." [[ChekhovsGun This comes into play later in the film]], when [[spoiler: Bruce apparently has this type as well, as {{God}} sends him some of hers when he gets hit by a truck and needs a donation. It's some pretty awful research failure if you wanted to put any drama into it, since in reality Bruce could receive blood from anybody]].

* ''Film/TheGreatestShowOnEarth'', winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1952, involves a train wreck with a victim that needs a blood transfusion. Guess what his blood type is? (And the fact that his AB- blood could accept a transfusion from ANY Rh negative donor is completely unknown to the ''doctor'' who is treating him. The donor has to be AB-, or nothing!)
* A major plot point of ''Film/JohnQ'' was that the title character's son was a rare bloodtype and needs a heart transplant. Meanwhile, a woman dies in a car wreck of the same bloodtype, and they eventually use her heart.
* Max is captured in the opening of ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' but as he's a universal donor (specifically O-) he's kept alive as a living blood bank for the War Boys, who are dying of radiation poisoning. This means he's taken along when the War Boys pursue Furiosa, thereafter becoming part of events. Eventually he uses his own blood to save Furiosa's life.

* Creator/DorothyLSayers' short story ''Blood Sacrifice'' is based on another way of classifying blood types used in Britain in the early to mid twentieth century; how this translates to the modern system is unclear.

* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', thanks to ScienceMarchesOn. When the book was written, the concept of blood transfusions was radical, cutting-edge science, and the possibility of an allergic reaction to someone else's blood wasn't known. Thus, Lucy can get transfusions from four different men without anyone worrying about blood type compatibility. Since she's in the process of becoming a vampire, blood types may be irrelevant to her in a very easy retcon. Another easy FanWank is to claim that Lucy is AB+ (one of the rarest types), the "universal recipient."

** RAH himself was AB+, and a member of the National Rare Blood Club (which he mentions in an appendix to ''I Will Fear No Evil''). To this day, sci fi conventions sponsor [[http://www.heinleinsociety.org/blooddrives/index.html Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drives]].

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy'': In "The Road to Hell", Superboy gets severely injured, then gets sent to an alternate universe that is a utopia and Lex Luthor reformed and became a doctor. Lex treats him, but says he needs a blood transfusion. Since Superboy isn't human, the only available donor is that universe's adult Superman, who of course agrees to help.

'''Andy:''' Maybe. I've just gone over the coroners reports from Chicago, New Orleans, and now local. It turns out all the victims were AB negative.

* In ''Series/ElCorazonNuncaSeEquivoca'', Temo mentions that his and Ari's blood types are incompatible, since Ari has A negative blood.

* In ''Series/DeGrassi'', Holly J. only learns that she is adopted after discovering that she is type B, while both her parents are AB. She says--incorrectly--that children tend to have the same blood type as their parents, and Revelations Ensue. In fact there is absolutely nothing unlikely about two AB parents having a B child. Even if the script had been reversed--an AB child with B parents--it might only have implied that her ''father'' wasn’t who she thought.

* The title character of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' has a AB- as his bloodtype. It's shown in flashback that [[spoiler: Dexter's foster father contacted Dexter's biological father when Dexter was injured and needed a blood transfusion, which falls into the ArtisticLicenseBiology trope since in reality Dexter could have had ''any'' negative blood type given to him and been fine]].

* In the ''Series/EverDecreasingCircles'' episode "A Strange Woman", Paul (Peter Egan) is taken away in a police car in the middle of the night. The following day, he explains that he is a registered blood donor and has a rare (yet unspecified) blood type and had to be rushed to the hospital to donate to an accident victim. His neighbour and self-perceived rival Martin (Richard Briers) promptly registers as a blood donor, and is disappointed to learn that he has Type O blood.

* In ''Series/ForeverKnight'', they actually not only [[ShownTheirWork get the blood type info right]], saying Schanke, who is AB+ , "can take anything but motor oil," while O- can only receive O-, it's involved in a plot point, too. [[spoiler:The killer's mother had died from hepatitis contracted from a blood transfusion, which slipped through the screening process; he was taking out only O- donors who could have been the source]].

** In season five it turns out Chuck Bass has a super duper rare blood type (never specified which one) that means the only people in the whole wide world who could possibly give him blood are blood relatives. [[spoiler:Which is how he ends up finding out his father is not quite as dead as we thought he was]].

** Normally averted on the show: All sorts of blood-types show up and they routinely run short of all of them.
** The writers adapted the trope to make its use accurate and believable for the time period. It's never said that the soldier can only take AB- blood; it's stated (by Potter) that AB- blood would be the best for him. In the 50s it was thought that the more blood the patient had lost, the more important it was to provide the exact blood type.

*** Which seems to be based on "Archie Gives Blood", a season one episode of ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' where Archie donates blood, and is concerned the recipient will not be Caucasian, because [[ArtisticLicenseBiology he believes blood can only be given to a recipient of the same race as the donor]].
** In another episode a soldier is given the wrong blood and has a severe reaction. They gave the blood type listed on his dog tags - but they weren't his tags. He [[DeadPersonImpersonation stole them from a buddy who was killed]] in the attack he was wounded in, because the buddy [[{{Retirony}} was going to be sent home]].

** The episode "Your Hit Parade" in Season 6 features an AB- patient during a period of heavy casualties. Hawkeye asks for 4 units during surgery, Klinger informs they only had 2 to start with and both were used during the first batch of wounded. They mention collecting the patients blood during surgery to filter and give back to him, then spend the rest of the episode trying to find more. The unavailability of any donors is partly justified by the heavy casualties and the other medical units being forced to bug out, but it is implied there are only 2 other people available to donate in Asia with the correct blood type.
* The season-two finale of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' featured a victim whose blood group was "AB-negative with a D- antigen--the rarest blood-type in the world!" It is indeed rare; in fact, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology it doesn't exist]]. [[note]]Although it is possible for certain blood subtypes to show up this way on a test, the one doing the testing should have recognized an impossible result and retested.[[/note]] This turned out to be why he was murdered -- he was a death row inmate about to be executed, with his blood going to a local philanthropist in need of an operation. A prison employee had a grudge against the philanthropist and couldn't let that happen, so they poisoned the prisoner's last meal, making the blood worthless.

* ''Series/{{Preacher|2016}}'': Tulip has AB- blood. No surprisingly, Cassidy does not have a blood pack from among his dozen or so that matches. Apparently having little to no medical knowledge, neither he nor Jesse consider the option of using A-, B- or O-.

* In the last season of ''Series/QueerAsFolk'', after the bombing in Babylon, Michael has been seriously hurt and taken to the hospital. The ER doctor says he needs a blood tranfusion, but he's AB negative and they are short on his type. Brian answers he's O negative, universal donor and wants them to take his blood. But they won't take it because he's gay and they are considered too high of a risk for HIV. Brian then goes berserk, but Ben tells him he couldn't give his blood anyway because he had cancer. This is a reference to the [[http://gaylife.about.com/od/stdsgeneralhealth/a/blooddonation.htm Ban On Blood Donations From Gay Men]] in the USA implemented in 1985, and despite what the show says the policy isn't as set-in-stone as many media outlets make it seem. Doctors at hospitals are desperate for any compatible blood type in a pinch, and in real life they more than likely wouldn't turn Brian away if he were on the scene. It's only at blood drives that they screen for gay men. It was all just a convenient excuse for an blatantly [[RuleOfDrama dramatic]] take on a real gay issue.

* In ''Series/{{Victorious}}'', Robbie is about to have a surgery, but needs O- blood. Tori is the only one of their friends who has this blood type, but is about to star in a play. After Tori donates a pint of blood, the doctors end up losing it, and after donating another pint, Robbie ends up dropping it on the floor, forcing her to donate a third pint. Tori then becomes weak and disoriented during the play.
* In the present day scene at the end of one episode of ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'' (which took place in a hospital waiting room), a doctor comes out and asks if anyone present has a certain blood type, as they're running low and there's a kid with that blood type who needs immediate surgery. The person who Indy had been telling part of his life story to over the course of the episode volunteers to donate.

* The song "0 rhesus negativ" by German singer Udo Lindenberg involves the singer meeting a vampire, but being spared because the vampire can't stand that blood type.

* Feral from ''Webcomic/StrongFemaleProtagonist'' takes the universal donor version of this trope UpToEleven in addition to her strong HealingFactor superpower. Any of her blood or organs are perfectly compatible with anybody they are transplanted to, and she volunteers to provide as much as possible of them. The downside is that she is immune to drugs such as painkillers and anethesia, and has to endure being constantly chopped open in the process all by herself.

'''Peggy:''' Oh, yeah? Well I have the rarest blood of all; AB Negative! Liquid Gold!

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hh_antigen_system Bombay Type blood]] is an extremely rare blood type that cannot accept any ABO-normal blood. Genetically they may have any of the normal ABO types, but they test as type O due to a lack of H antigen, which is present in ABO-normal people (type O only has H; in A, B and AB the H acts as an anchor for the additional antigens). They will have a hemolytic reaction if given O negative (which is otherwise considered the universal donor for blood) and must be given Bombay (Oh) blood. For this reason when a blood bank receives a Bombay donation, they never discard it as they do with other blood types after a certain period or expiration date. It's named after the city in which it was discovered, and people who have it are mostly concentrated in that region of India (even there, they're a minority), and practically nowhere else in the world.

* In the last season of ''Series/QueerAsFolk'', after the bombing in Babylon, Michael has been seriously hurt and taken to the hospital. The ER doctor says he needs a blood tranfusion, but he's AB negative and they are short on his type. Brian answers he's O negative, universal donor and wants them to take his blood. But they won't take it because he's gay and they are considered too high of a risk for HIV. Brian then goes berserk, but Ben tells him he couldn't give his blood anyway because he had cancer. This is a reference to the [[http://gaylife.about.com/od/stdsgeneralhealth/a/blooddonation.htm Ban On Blood Donations From Gay Men]] in the USA implemented in 1985, and despite what the show says the policy isn't as set-in-stone as many media outlets make it seem. Doctors at hospitals are desperate for any compatible blood type in a pinch, and in real life they more than likely wouldn't turn Brian away if he were on the scene. It's only at blood drives that they screen for gay men. It was all just a convenient excuse for an {{Anvilicious}}ly [[RuleOfDrama dramatic]] take on a real gay issue.