Red Cross apologizes to tainted blood victims
CTV.ca News Staff
Mon. May. 30 2005--Addressing decades of anger and frustration, the Canadian Red Cross Society has been fined and issued an apology for infecting thousands of Canadians with blood tainted by HIV and hepatitis C.
The Red Cross pleaded guilty Monday, to violating the Food and Drug Regulation Act by distributing tainted blood products between 1983 and 1990.
As a result of the guilty plea and public apology, the defence and Crown lawyers agreed the Red Cross should pay a $5,000 fine and make a $1.5-million payment to the University of Ottawa for research and scholarships for family members of those affected.
The judge accepted the lawyers' submissions, but won't formally deliver his sentence until June 30, by which time he will have consulted with victims and their families.
Regardless of how the judge rules, what many victims had been waiting for was an apology from the national blood agency -- and today they got to hear that via a video statement played in the Hamilton court.
"Canadian Red Cross Society is deeply sorry for the injury and death . . . for the suffering caused to families and loved ones of those who were harmed,'' said Red Cross secretary-general Dr. Pierre Duplessis.
"We accept responsibility through our plea for having distributed harmful products for those that rely on us for their health.''
Watching the videotaped message, John Plater -- who contracted both HIV and hepatitis C from tainted blood in the 1980s -- said the admission has been a long time coming.
"For the first time in this country, there's been an admission that laws were broken and that breaking those laws led to the tainted blood tragedy," the 37-year old lawyer and member of the Canadian Hemophilia Society told CTV News.
More than 1,000 Canadians contracted blood-borne HIV, and as many as 20,000 contracted hepatitis C after receiving blood not screened by widely available, but unimplemented screening measures.
Hepatitis C suffered Mike McCarthy had been waiting in hope of hearing such an apology for more than two decades. When he finally heard it Monday, years of emotion bubbled to the surface.
"It was a tearful moment," he explained. "I think what ran through my head was the lost friends, the lost family ... it would have been nice for them to be by my side -- to have heard that verdict as well."
The charity was charged in 2002 after thousands became infected with HIV and hepatitis C during the 1980s and early '90s from tainted-blood transfusions.
Crown Attorney John Ayre said the sentence was reasonable given that the Red Cross is no longer involved in the collection and distribution of blood. That is now the responsibility of the Canadian Blood Services.
"The apology is as complete as one could contemplate. The Red Cross has now said it is sorry and responsible for its actions,'' Ayre said.
Dr. Roger Perrault, who was the Red Cross's director of blood transfusion until 1986, is still facing three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and seven counts of common nuisance by endangering the public.
Perrault's lawyers told a Toronto court earlier this year that their client is too ill to face charges. They say he has an undisclosed, long-standing heart condition.
As many as 20,000 Canadians contracted hepatitis C and more than 1,000 became infected with HIV after receiving tainted blood products in what became of the worst public health disasters in Canadian history.
At last count in 1997, about 3,000 of those infected had died, but recent estimates are not available.
The Red Cross had been facing Criminal Code charges that, if convicted, could have seen the charity hit with an unlimited fine. By pleading guilty to a Food and Drug Act infraction instead, the fine was capped at $5,000.
According to Ayre, on its own that sum would be "woefully inadequate," but the fact that the additional commitment of $1.5 million is not going to legal fees or the federal coffers is significant.
"It went to two projects both of which will lead to long life and benefit of Canadians."
The Red Cross no longer collects of distributes blood or blood products in Canada.
With files from CTV News and The Canadian Press
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