American Red Cross Blood Services Under Fire for Protocol Lapses That Could Lead to Infection

The American Red Cross Blood Services is coming under fire for its alleged failure to improve the methods it uses to collect and process blood, despite a federal court order and millions of dollars in fines in the last five years. Report by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describe numerous breaches in protocol, including failure to screen donors for infectious diseases, failure to swab arms prior to needle insertion, failure to test for sexually transmitted diseases, and not discarding contaminated blood. The FDA also says that the American Red Cross has not investigated its protocol lapses, which interferes with the ability to determine if blood recipients were placed in harm’s way. For the complete article, click here.

Source: The New York Times