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.
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