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Tainted blood case ends in acquittals

Roger Perrault is questioned by reporters as he leaves the courthouse after he and four other defendants were acquitted in a tainted blood case on Monday in Toronto. PHOTO: AP

A Canadian judge acquitted three doctors, a US pharmaceutical 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 on Monday 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," she said.

"The events here were tragic," the judge said. "However, to assign blame where none exists is to compound the tragedy."

James Kreppner, a Toronto lawyer who contracted HIV and hepatitis C from the tainted blood, said he was astounded.

"It was clearly negligent behavior and a company violated its statutory duty and to call that professional conduct, you just can't justify that," he said.

John Plater of the Canadian Hemophilia Society expressed bewilderment at the verdict.

"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 behavior is beyond us."

The case involved blood products produced by New Jersey-based Armour Pharmaceutical Co in the 1980s and early 1990s that turned out to be infected.

Also charged were Roger Perrault of the Canadian Red Cross; John Furesz and Donald Wark Boucher, former officials at the federal agency Health Canada, and Michael Rodell, a former vice president of Armour.

Perrault pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing bodily harm for allegedly giving hemophilia patients an HIV-infected blood-clotting product.

The other doctors and the drug company also pleaded not guilty. Lawyers argued that prosecutors did not present enough evidence to prove its case.

Attorney Edward Greenspan called it a complete exoneration of his clients Perrault and Armour Pharmaceutical.

"We could not have hoped for a better result," Greenspan said.

"It was an enormous tragedy, but it does not mean somebody has to be held accountable. The people that made the decisions did nothing criminal," he said.

A second trial for Perrault is set to 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.

Mina Shah, who lost her 24-year-old brother Karttik Shah to AIDS and hepatitis as a result of the tainted blood, 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. "There should have been some sort of punishment."

The Canadian Red Cross pleaded guilty in 2005 to distributing blood tainted with HIV and hepatitis C and was fined C$5,000 (US$5,000). The Red Cross apologized and dedicated C$1.5 million to a scholarship fund and research project aimed at reducing medical errors.

Responsibility for Canada's blood supply for all provinces except Quebec was later transferred from the Canadian Red Cross to Canadian Blood Services.
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