Canada: Doctors cleared in blood scandal
A judge acquitted three doctors, a New Jersey company and a former Red Cross official of criminal charges in a tainted-blood scandal that infected thousands of Canadians with HIV or hepatitis and resulted in more than 3,000 deaths.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Mary Lou Benotto ruled that the defendants did not show conduct displaying wanton and reckless disregard in the use of the blood and that there was no marked departure from the standards of a reasonable person.
“The conduct examined in detail over one and a half years confirms reasonable and responsible and professional actions and responses during this difficult time,” she said.
“The allegations of criminal conduct on the part of these men and this corporation were not only unsupported by the evidence, they were disproved.
“The events here were tragic. However, to assign blame where none exists is to compound the tragedy.”
It was the first criminal case linked to one of Canada’s worst public health disasters. More than 3,000 Canadians died after becoming infected with the Aids virus or hepatitis C after they received transfusions using tainted blood products.
John Plater of the Canadian Haemophilia Society expressed bewilderment at the verdict, questioning how the judge could suggest that the defendants’ actions “were somehow professional and reasonable”.
“If you, on the one hand, have a study that says there’s a problem, and on the other hand have a study that says maybe there isn’t a problem, any reasonable person takes the product off the market. They didn’t. People were infected, and people died,” Plater said.
“How that could be considered reasonable behaviour is beyond us.”
The case involved blood products produced by New Jersey-based Armour Pharmaceutical in the 1980s and early 1990s that turned out to be infected. Also charged were Dr Roger Perrault, the former medical director for the Canadian Red Cross; Dr John Furesz and Dr Donald Wark Boucher, former officials at the federal agency Health Canada, and Dr Michael Rodell, a former vice president of Armour Pharmaceutical.
Perrault pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing bodily harm for allegedly giving haemophilia patients an HIV-infected blood-clotting product.
The other doctors and the drug company also pleaded not guilty. Defence lawyers argued that prosecutors did not present enough evidence to prove their case.
Defence lawyer Edward Greenspan called it a complete exoneration of his clients Perrault and Armour Pharmaceutical.
“It was an enormous tragedy, but it does not mean somebody has to be held accountable,” he said. “The people that made the decisions did nothing criminal.”
Mina Shah, who lost her 24-year-old brother Karttik Shah to Aids and hepatitis in 2004, said she could not accept the decision.
“She said it was OK and a great job was done. That doesn’t sit well,” Shah said of the judge’s decision. “There should have been some sort of punishment.”
A second trial for Perrault will begin later this year in Hamilton, Ontario, where he will face more criminal charges stemming from allegations that the Red Cross and its senior officials failed to take adequate measures to screen blood donors.
The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty in 2005 to distributing blood tainted with HIV and hepatitis C and was fined £2,500. The Red Cross apologised and dedicated £750,000 to a scholarship fund and research project aimed at reducing medical errors.
