Anyone who visits a blood center to donate blood should be able to feel safe from infection. With current technology, safety regulations should be up to par. A few, including long time donor Christopher Bui, might have to disagree.

    Bui, a Palo Alto man who is in the process of suing Stanford Blood Center along with many other companies associated with them, claims he contracted a serious infection from donating blood at the Stanford Medical Center in April 2008.

If Stanford is, in fact, responsible, it should pay Bui damages.

Bui’s infection ultimately required surgery to remove most of his left collarbone, incurring more than $200,000 in medical bills. Not only that, but Bui claims his O-positive blood, one of the most critically needed blood types, was not administered to infants suffering from immune-system inhibiting conditions, as he had been told. He claims that it was sold by Stanford for profit. He also says Stanford did not stick to its word that it would cover his medical care in the case of an injury.

Bui still needs one or two more expensive surgeries, and though the blood center makes money by selling the blood from donors, it does not provide the donors compensation if they are injured by their donation.

Stanford released a statement about Bui’s claim effectively saying that the extremely rare infection Bui had, osteomyelitis, is not even associated with blood transfusions. Stanford added that it holds high standards in terms of safety.

When taking blood from donors, Stanford Blood Center uses single-use needles. The needles come in sterile containers from a manufacturer unaffiliated with Stanford.

There is always a risk that comes with donating blood. All people who donate blood are given a brochure that explains the possible side effects, such as light-headedness and rarely fainting, of blood donation, and Bui, being a long-time donor, must have known the risks.
However, if Bui did indeed contract an infection from his blood donation at Stanford, Stanford is in the wrong and ought to compensate him by paying for his medical treatment.