Doctors and officials should not have been charged over infected blood, lawyers say

doi:10.1136/bmj.39363.347338.DB

BMJ 2007;335:743 (13 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.39363.347338.DB

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Doctors and officials should not have been charged over infected blood, lawyers say

David Spurgeon

Quebec

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

After four doctors and a US drug company were acquitted in Canadalast week of criminal charges relating to the distribution ofinfected blood products, the doctors' lawyers have said thatthe case should never have been brought. But patients' groupsgreeted the acquittal with dismay.

The products infected more than 1000 Canadians with HIV andup to 20 000 with hepatitis C. Events dating back more than20 years have become known as the nation's worst preventablepublic health disaster.

On 1 October, after an 18 month trial, Superior Court JusticeMary Lou Benotto acquitted Roger Perrault, former national medicaldirector of the Canadian Red Cross Society, John Furesz andDonald Boucher, former federal health department officials,and Michael Rodell, a former executive of Armour Pharmaceutical.They had been accused of criminal negligence causing bodilyharm and of common nuisance endangering the public, after patientswere given infected blood . . . [Full text of this article]

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