Making the news yesterday was the criminal trial in Ontario of 3 individuals and a corporation, charged in the Tainted Blood scandal of 20 years ago. In short, not only were they acquitted, but the judge went the extra distance of actually declaring that the charges were disproved!
Recap: Several public health officials and the Red Cross were implicated in distributing blood tainted with HIV and Hepatitis C in the late 1980's and early 1990's, when evidence was showing a problem in the screening of blood. Many hemophiliacs, as well as many individuals who received a transfusion, caught these horrible diseases through donated blood. The Krever Inquiry was formed to get to the bottom of why it happened (their report was over 1000 pages long, I believe), and these charges stemmed from those findings.
The Red Cross settled charges many years ago, paying a small fine and making a large donation to research schools to settle the issue. Compensation was also offered to some of the victims, but not all. Subsequent governments extended the compensation to everyone who got sick. Many have died, many others live with the fear of Hep C, my Mother included.
The net result is that not one person has been held responsible for this public health disaster. One would like to think that this could never happen again, but you can never really know. It is not vengeance that makes me say this, but rather the culture of escaping and passing blame that seems so prevalent. This reminds me that it has been with us for some time now, with no end in sight. Whether you are talking about blood, the Air India disaster, Alberta royalties, or other problems (too many to mention), think about this:
When was the last time you actually heard someone say "It happened on my watch, I am responsible?"
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