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A 30-year-old woman was one of four patients infected with HIV and hepatitis after an organ transplant.

According to a Yahoo! News Article dated November 16, 2007, the woman was not informed that the donor engaged in high-risk activities and, after the transplant, she was not immediately tested for HIV. These two circumstances put the University of Chicago, where the procedure was done, and the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network ,in violation of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention regulations (and also obviously exposes those institutions to potential civil liability.

The only information teh victim received about the donor was that he was a healthy young man. Two years earlier, the woman had rejected a donor because of his high risk lifestyle, leading one to believe that if she had been properly informed about this donor, she may have rejected this donor as well.

The donor was tested for HIV and hepatitis, but the test results were negative. He was listed as a high risk donor because he was a sexually active 38-year old gay man. CDC guidelines say that this type of person should only be used as a donor in case of an emergency.

A petition is being filed on the woman’s behalf in Cook County. It asks officials to prevent hospitals and organ procurement centers from destroying or altering records about a donor.

To view the full article.

For morer information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices, and Implants.

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