Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 28, 1994 TAG: 9402280036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
U.S. District Judge Charles Haden turned down the agency's request to block a jury trial in the lawsuit filed in 1992 by the boy's parents, who are identified in court documents as John and Mary Doe.
The trial is scheduled Aug. 2.
The lawsuit alleges the child, identified as Jason Doe, contracted the AIDS virus while undergoing head surgery at a Charleston hospital in August 1983, when he was 10 weeks old.
The family lived in St. Albans, W.Va., at the time, but has since moved to Virginia, court documents said.
Haden ruled that although the American Red Cross is chartered by Congress, it does not have immunity from jury trials as other federal agencies have.
"ARC contends that although Congress chartered it as a `sue and be sued' corporation, it nonetheless retains immunity from jury trial and punitive damages because Congress did not waive the immunity `unequivocally'," Haden wrote. "This argument fails."
The lawsuit contends the child's father told hospital officials he did not want his son to receive a blood transfusion from the general population.
It says the boy's parents offered to donate their own blood but were told a blood transfusion would not be necessary during the operation.
In 1990, Jason Doe was diagnosed as having the HIV virus, the lawsuit said. Hospital records indicate the boy was given a blood transfusion and the blood had come from a person diagnosed as having AIDS, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges there were inadequate measures for testing blood donors and inadequate precautions taken in the boy's treatment.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, also named several health care providers. Some of the defendants have settled with the family, records show.
by CNB