Blood Transfusion: Patient Cannot Sue Over Getting Blood Not Banked For The Patient, Court Says

 Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession

February 1997 

   Quick Summary: A patient’s unreasonable fear of getting HIV and AIDS from blood other than the blood friends banked specifically for the patient is not a valid reason for a lawsuit.

   The patient’s fear is unreasonable when there is no basis in fact to believe the blood the patient got was infected with HIV or that the patient had HIV after being tested several months after surgery.  COURT OF APPEALS OF TEXAS, 1996.

   Patients concerned about HIV or other infection from blood products can in certain circumstances bank their own blood or have friends do it for them before surgery.

   In a recent case from the Court of Appeals of Texas, however, the patient was cautioned by her physician that the direct- donor blood stockpiled before her surgery might not be sufficient, and that at least one additional unit of blood from stock might have to be used.

   After this came to pass, despite the most certain assurances the blood was not tainted in any way, and with a negative HIV test five months after surgery, the patient sued the hospital, claiming damages for mental anguish and emotional distress for her fear of contracting HIV and AIDS from the stock blood.

   With no actual exposure to a disease-causing agent, a patient’s fear of contagion is not a valid basis for a lawsuit, the court ruled. Drury vs. Hospital, 933 S.W. 2d 668 (Tex. App., 1996).