Bad Blood
LINDA FITZGERALD, 69 LONGMONT, COLO. TRANSFUSED MAY 1993. NOW INFECTED WITH HIV. Four months after gallstone surgery in May 1993, Linda Fitzgerald learned she had contracted HIV from infected plasma received just before an operation to reverse the effects of blood thinners she takes for a heart condition. She has since begun suffering from swollen glands and other symptoms caused by the virus. The former waitress and store clerk finds it hard not to dwell on what will become of her. "When I think about what's going to happen..." She doesn't finish the sentence. "I just want to be on my own and wait on myself. I don't want to drag people down with me." ROBERT DUANE JONES, 62 WILSALL, MONT. TRANSFUSED NOVEMBER 1989. NOW DIAGNOSED WITH AIDS. Rushed into surgery with a burst abdominal artery, Bob Jones needed blood to pull through. Four months later, the Red Cross blood bank in Portland, Ore., called: One unit had come from a donor who had since tested positive for HIV. Later that week, Jones tested positive, too. In his lawsuit against the Red Cross, Jones contended the donor had not been asked specific questions meant to screen out people at high risk for HIV. The Red Cross and Jones settled the first day of the trial, the Red Cross admitting no wrongdoing. Jones has been diagnosed with AIDS and is now recovering from a lung ailment. Recall repeaters From Oct. 1, 1989, to March 30, 1994, these blood centers racked up at least 10 recall notices from the Food and Drug Administration because blood was released that failed one or more safety standards. In many cases the recalls were made public months or years after the blood was transfused.
Units of blood Blood bank (city) Recalls recalled Red Cross (Baltimore) 19 149 BloodCare (Dallas) 15 3,928 Red Cross (St. Paul, Minn.) 15 95 Red Cross (Charlotte, N.C.) 14 214 Central Indiana Regional Blood Center (Indianapolis) 13 60 Red Cross (Portland, Ore.) 12 124 Red Cross (Peoria, Ill.) 11 62 LifeSource Blood Services (Glenview, Ill.) 11 343 Red Cross (Dedham, Mass.) 11 91 Belle Bonfils Memorial Blood Center (Denver) 10 15,955 Red Cross (St. Louis) 10 20 Behind the error reports From Jan. 1, 1990, to April 7, 1994, the Fodd and Drug Administraton received 29,586 reports from blood banks of "errors and accidents" in testing, handling and distributing donated blood. Here is a sampling of problems and the number of reported for each: Storage and shipping 2,506 Inadequate testing for blood type 2,025 Inadequate testing for hepatitis 621 Incorrect product released, such as plasma
instead of platelets or wrong blood type 621 Donor called back to report hepatitis-related
illness 581 Donor later reported history of exchanging
sex for drugs or money 433 Donor later reported having had sex with an
IV drug user 433 Donor later reported having had sex with a man
who had had sex with another man 322 Inadequate test for HIV 151 Inadequate test for syphilis 112 Donor later reported that a sexual partner had
tested HIV positive 109 Blood accepted from donor with high riskof AIDS 50 Blood accepted from donor with high riskof hepatitis 36 A worrisome blood count Reports of blood and plasma center errors and accidents, many of which lead to blood recalls, have surged in the 1990s. One recall can encompass a single unit of blood--or many thousands. The 4,615 errors and accidents reported through March 1994 are a slight increase over the 1993 rate. [Information for the three charts is not available.] Note: Years are October 1 to September 30 and indicate when problems were reported, not when they occurred. A unit is usually about 1 pint of whole blood or the red blood cells, plasma or other products derived from that quantity of whole blood. USN&WR--Basic data: Food and Drug Administration via Freedom of Information Act
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