Asians view blood as a vital element, in traditional Asian medicine blood is not drawn for medical purposes. Some Asians believe that veinipuncture not only upsets the body's natural balance but weakens the person, because the body does not replenish lost blood. Blood is believed to represent a person's essence and thought that one's essence may be given to someone else can cause great fear...So the difficulty is in getting the patient to agree to the venipuncture! The patient should be assured that only small amount of blood will be drawn and that it will not be given to anyone else...