Bierig J R
Sidley & Austin, Chicago, IL 60603.
Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1994 Apr;118(4):442-53.
This article first examines the standard of care applied by courts in litigation brought against blood banks by persons who contracted the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) from a transfusion. It describes cases that have held as a matter of law that a blood bank was not negligent if it followed the screening procedures recommended by the government and the medical profession at the time of the transfusion. The article also sets forth cases that have allowed the issue of alleged negligence by the blood bank to be decided by a jury--even if the blood bank complied with governing regulatory and professional guidelines. It analyzes the reasoning applied in each line of cases. It then discusses judicial approaches to applications of the statute of limitations in transfusion-transmitted AIDS cases. The second part of the article addresses AIDS-related confidentiality issues for blood banks. Specifically, it examines (a) record-keeping procedures that blood banks should consider and (b) approaches to informing donors that their identities may not be kept confidential. It provides general guidelines for blood banks on how to minimize exposure to liability for breach of confidentiality.
本文首先审视了法院在受理因输血感染后天免疫机能丧失综合症（艾滋病）的人对血库提起的诉讼时所适用的护理标准。它描述了一些案例，这些案例从法律角度认定，如果血库在输血时遵循了政府和医学界推荐的筛查程序，那么血库就不存在过失。本文还列举了一些案例，这些案例允许由陪审团来裁决血库是否存在所谓的过失，即便血库遵守了相关的监管和专业准则。文章分析了每类案例所采用的推理方式。接着，它讨论了在输血传播艾滋病案例中适用诉讼时效的司法方法。本文的第二部分探讨了血库与艾滋病相关的保密问题。具体而言，它审视了（a）血库应考虑的记录保存程序，以及（b）告知献血者其身份可能无法保密的方法。它为血库提供了关于如何尽量减少因违反保密规定而承担责任风险的一般指导原则。
