bulgaria black market blood bulgaria black market blood. her 85-year-old husband needed immediate surgery but doctors told her to find blood for the operation herself. So Slavka Petrova swallowed her anguish and went to haggle on the black market outside the national blood clinic. It's a grim reality for patients and families in Bulgaria, a struggling EU nation where donors are troublingly scarce, hospitals are strapped for funds and blood traders — mainly Gypsy, or Roma, men — are thriving. Trading in blood and blood products is illegal in Bulgaria, punishable by a fine of up to €5,000 ($7,100). But lawyers say it's difficult to prove an illegal blood transaction because that requires an official complaint lodged by the person who pays the donor — and families are so desperate they consider the black market blood donors lifesavers. In the streets around the blood clinic, a dozen men sit smoking on benches or in cafes, on the alert for people in need. They don't have to wai...