Rob.Bates@ncar.UCAR.EDU (Rob Bates) (09/19/89)
[Reproduced with permission from Melbourne Star Observer #104, 8 Sept 89] Hundreds of Australians with haemophilia who contracted HIV through treatment with contaminated blood clotting agent between 1983 and 1985 may sue the Red Cross Blood Bank and the hospitals at which they were treated if a test case in Melbourne is successful. Following a decision by the Federal Health Department not to financially compensate HIV infected people with haemophilia, writs were lodged in the Victorian (State) Supreme Court naming the the Red Cross Blood Bank, The Alfred, Caufield and Southern Memorial Hospitals and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories as defendants. They are being sued for negligence. The name of the litigant was been suppressed by the court, but it is believed that if the case is successful, many more such cases will be filed. Haemophilia is an inherited disorder affecting the male children of women carrying the gene. The bone marrow of those affected lacks the ability to manufacture a vital blood clotting agent. Modern treatment involves regular injections of this clotting agent derived from the blood of other people. Many people with haemophilia were infected with HIV following treatment with clotting agent derived from the blood of HIV infected blood donors before the Red Cross Blood Bank took measures to screen all blood donations. It is believed that about one in four of Australia's 1,600 people with haemophilia is HIV infected as a result of treatment with HIV infected clotting agent. Twelve have died and another 12 have developed symptoms of AIDS. -- Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!noao!asuvax!stjhmc!3!634!381.1!Rob.Bates Internet: Rob.Bates@p1.f381.n634.z3.fidonet.org