The Deputy Medical Director of the BTS has agreed that Pelican House did not either speedily choose or adequately prepare for the introduction of HIV tests in 1985. At the Lindsay Tribunal, Dr Emer Lawlor accepted that it was a "bit late in the day" in September 1985 for the Blood Transfusion Service to be applying to the Department of Health for funding. She further accepted the suggestion by Gerry Durcan, SC, for the tribunal, that there was not a sense of urgency in introducing an HIV test.
The tribunal has heard that while tests for HIV began to become available in March 1985, it was not until October 1985 that one finally came on stream in Ireland. Dr Lawlor said that there was a feeling at the time, which in hindsight proved to be wrong, that there was a low risk of HIV transmission because, unlike in the US, Irish donors were volunteers and not paid. She said there was also a concern that some of the tests were resulting in "false negatives", whereby donors not infected with HIV were being incorrectly tested as HIV positive.
In relation to the Factor 9 blood product used by haemophiliacs and made from Irish blood, there was a belief, also proven to be wrong, that the process of production eliminated HIV. Dr Lawlor is due to continue giving direct evidence tomorrow.
Earlier today, a woman who contracted HIV from a blood transfusion in 1985 has said that she was "totally devastated" when she found out about her condition ten years later. The tribunal heard that the donor tested positive for HIV in 1986, but it appears that the Blood Bank took no steps to find out where the previous donations had gone. The woman, who is not being identified and did not attend today's hearing, received a blood donation in July 1985 because she was anaemic.
Using the pseudonym "Mary Murphy", the woman said that when she found out about her condition she felt "like a leper", fought suicidal feelings, could no longer be a health worker and had to "face the horror" of telling her family. She said, in a statement, that she was "extremely angry" that the Blood Bank had not contacted her and said that there must now be accountability.
The tribunal also heard that the Blood Bank did not check whether or not anyone was transfused with a blood component after a test showed it to be HIV positive. Gerry Durcan SC for the Tribunal said that the incident happened in 1985, when an elderly female patient at Wexford General Hospital was given a transfusion of platelets in December 1985. Pelican House issued the product before it had been tested for HIV following an emergency request for it from the hospital. The following day a test was carried out on the part of the product still in Dublin.
It was found to be HIV positive and discarded. However, Mr Durcan said it appeared that "no effort was made to trace the platelets which had already been issued and the elderly patient was not informed of what occurred". The elderly female patient, who is not being identified, died of her underlying illness in July 1986. Mr Durcan said that the Tribunal would now have to decide whether the issue of untested platelets was justified and also whether the patient's doctor should have been informed of the HIV diagnosis. The Tribunal moved into its second phase today. The new focus is on the HIV screening and testing procedures adopted by Blood Transfusion Service in the 1980s and what it did once any donor tested positive.
