Red Cross accused of ignoring hepatitis

WASHINGTON -- The American Red Cross received reports that 134 people, including one who died, got hepatitis B after blood transfusions, but the organization did not investigate them because of internal policies that violate government safety rules, federal regulators say.

In one case, an Ohio Red Cross chapter challenged the policies and uncovered two additional patients who got the dangerous liver infection after transfusions that came from the same blood donor. The evidence got that donor kicked off the blood donor list, government records show.

The Food and Drug Administration, which uncovered the hepatitis infections in a recent inspection of Red Cross headquarters, is pushing the organization to find out if bad blood really caused the rest of the infections.

"We will insist that they follow up," FDA spokesman Brad Stone said Monday.

But the hepatitis examples show that "the blood supply is much less safe than the Red Cross, and even to some extent the FDA, has led people to believe," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, which is urging a congressional investigation of Red Cross problems.

The Red Cross declined to comment on the hepatitis cases. But the charity, reiterated a recent statement saying it is working hard to improve overall safety.

"The Red Cross understands more work needs to be done to further strengthen our processes and procedures, and we are fully committed to working collaboratively with the FDA to enhance our systems," that statement said.

The FDA cited the hepatitis discovery as one of more than 200 violations of federal safety rules it found during its latest inspection of Red Cross headquarters.

The FDA also alleges that some Red Cross employees were instructed to skip required safety steps, and others altered records to allow release of blood that had failed safety testing.

With the hepatitis reports, the FDA said the failure to investigate the 134 cases resulted from Red Cross policies that limit the number of possible blood-related infections the charity investigates.

Specifically, the policies called for investigating only if the donor was known to have had an abnormal hepatitis test or didn't qualify to give blood.

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