Blood Banks/Red Cross

[ladywhy]

For those who may have recvd. HepC through a transfusion: Has anyone ever tried to find out for sure/done research or contacted the hospital where they had the transfusion performed to confirm where the blood came from...? I have been wondering if they keep track of that information? I know for many of us....it has been double-digit years ago...but
I find it very interesting that Red Cross is paying for tx for Canadians...but not for us Americanos....
I'm not complaining...I don't know if I got it that way either...jus' pondering on this rainy day.

I'm thinkin also about those of us whos RBC's drop so low that we need transfusions...I would be a bit scared to have that done again. I mean...they didn't have a screen 'til the 90's??? What else is out there? I think I'd want a known family member...preferably a child..who has never done drugs...had sex...lived much...to donate in advance. ;)

[Trish77]

I agree, Elaine...I have nothing to lose from filling out the forms and I don't know where I got it from.  That's why they do the traceback for cases like mine.. they don't automatically exclude you for drug use but they don't automatically include you either and to me, that's fair.  The money should go to those that deserve it.  If I got it through the blood transfusion, I deserve it.  If I didn't, I didn't.  So hopefully the traceback procedure is fair.

I'm sorry that there's no compensation in the U.S.  Seems like there is everywhere else.  Same set of circumstances, you would think that a case would be successful.

Thanks for the good wishes..hope things are well with you. :)

Trish

[Trish77]

It's not just the hemophiliac community in Canada that's being compensated, it's also those with HCV.  I have the forms to fill out.  I had a blood transfusion in 1984 when my daughter was born.  I'm not likely to get the compensation because of a prior history of drug use and the presence of Hep B antibodies.  However they'll do a traceback procedure to determine if anyone else was infected by the same blood supply used for my transfusion and then we'll go from there.  

From what I understand, there were class action suits filed here in Canada by infected persons, some from each province and they were successful.  Has anyone in the U.S. done likewise?  

[alagirl]

I thought I was going to have to get packed rbc's earlier tonight when I went to the emergency room and I was thinking about that - should I call my son up and tell him to get down here? LOL  Not that they'd do it that way, just that he is a complete teetotaler of all things (except sex) and he's ultra cautious with that.  

On note with what Beamish said, my son does donate frequently - his blood actually runs too rich - pretty ironic since I have normocytic anemia.  But I do worry about how clean they are when he's donating and if that ever puts him at risk.  I've never been able to donate because of my blood count so I've never been through the process.

[beamishboy]

i firmly believe i got hepC in 1974 while selling plasma at el paso blood bank....