Doctors At Centre Of Tainted Blood Scandal Acquitted

It was not the outcome those who received tainted blood in the worst medical scandal in Canadian history were expecting. An Ontario judge has acquitted the former director of the Canadian Red Cross and three doctors accused in the incident, which saw blood products contaminated with HIV given to hemophiliacs and those in need of transfusions back in the 80s and 90s.

Dr. Roger Perrault, who headed the Red Cross when the scandal broke, had pleaded not guilty to charges he helped cause the tragedy. He had been accused of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. Aso acquitted were Dr. John Furesz and Dr. Donald Wark Boucher, formerly of Canada’s Health Protection Branch, and Dr. Michael Rodell, a former vice-president of Armour Pharmaceutical – a New Jersey-based company that had also been facing charges.

Thousands of patients were left suffering from HIV and Hepatitis C as a result of the foul-up, which sparked a lengthy inquiry headed by Justice Horace Krever. The incident drastically changed the way blood is collected and distributed in Canada. In 1998 Canadian Blood Services took over from the Red Cross.

Those who were affected by the mistake – and are still alive – were hoping someone would be held responsible for their plight, but instead the four individuals at the centre of the case aren’t seen as accountable.

In May 2006, the Canadian Red Cross apologized to tens of thousands of Canadians infected with AIDS or hep C. But that didn’t affect the legal outcome of the case. In her decision,  Superior Court Justice Mary Lou Benotto wound up praising the men for their actions in trying to help as many people as possible.

“There was no conduct that showed wanton and reckless disregard,” Benotto wrote in her judgment. “There was no marked departure from the standard of a reasonable person. On the contrary, the conduct examined in detail for over one-and-a-half years confirms reasonable, responsible and professional actions and responses during a difficult time.

 

“The events here were tragic,” she adds. “However, to assign blame where none exists is to compound the tragedy.”

 

The charges in the trial were very specific and surround the use of a blood product called Factorate, which was used to treat hemophiliacs in 1986 and 1987. The allegations are that officials with the former Red Cross and the manufacturer knew that the product was potentially tainted but used it anyway.

The ruling that denied those allegations has outraged victims-turned-advocates, who wonder how the jurist could arrive at what they felt was such an unfair conclusion.

“It makes me feel that we have a real problem with the court system in Canada,” emotes a bitter James Kreppner, one of those infected with both HIV and Hep C. “You have a dream team of defence lawyers and they did a good job and somehow they managed to persuade this judge, but it wasn’t the conclusion that we would come to from the evidence that we’ve seen, which was very clear cut. We didn’t think this would be much of a case.

“I’m not out for revenge,” he adds. “But I want the truth out as well. And I think the Commission of Inquiry told the truth and I expected something to happen as a result of those facts.”

Mike McCarthy is another hemophiliac whose life was touched by the scandal. “At the end of the day, these are the same individuals, Dr. Perreault and Dr. Perez, that allowed tainted blood products to be distributed while safe stuff was in warehouses and the tainted stuff was allowed, used up to the last box,” he alleges. “We never thought that the judge would come out and say that these guys were, you know, obviously, walking hand in hand, with the medical community to do the right thing in the blood system in the 1980s, and really, it is a shock, the verdict today. And I think every tainted-blood victim is going to feel there is no closure here, as we feel it has been a miscarriage of justice.”

Benotto found there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the allegations. But it was her praise of the accused that has left many speechless with rage. “She really thought they did a great job,” complains John Plater of the Canadian Hemophilia Society. “And we just can’t understand how that could be.” He notes there are additional cases pending and hopes the Crown will appeal the verdict.

But lawyer Eddie Greenspan notes his client, the 70-year-old Dr. Perrault, is relieved by the end of a very long journey to justice. “Today’s absolute vindication and his complete exoneration is something that we’ve been hoping for and actually expected for the last ten years, and now it has come … He spent ten years of his life trying to get his reputation back. And I have no doubt that this has done it.”

Perrault was surrounded by a horde of cameras as he walked out of the courtroom after the long ordeal. “I’m feeling well,” is all he would say.

Greenspan praised the judge the others condemned, noting she carefully listened to the evidence and decided none of those charged were guilty. He wants to know why, given that conclusion, they were prosecuted in the first place.

This case is over but the issue is far from settled. Another criminal trial still awaits the accused in Hamilton.