AAP General News (Australia)
08-11-1999
FED: Hospital changes opinion on blood donation
Parents will be allowed to donate blood to their children following a major turnaround by
Victorian doctors and health officials.
Medical experts have recommended that previous policy be overturned in the wake of a
Melbourne schoolgirl contracting HIV through a blood transfusion at the Royal Children's
Hospital.
The girl's father, a surgeon, had been refused permission to donate his own blood by the
Red Cross Blood Bank which said at the time directly donated blood was less safe than that
donated anonymously.
The Red Cross policy was supported by hospital chief executive Dr JOHN DE CAMPO and the
state health service but a committee established the day after the HIV infection was revealed
now says the dangers involved in parents giving blood to their children are negligible.
While Dr DE CAMPO agrees the committee's report means directed donations could have been
sanctioned prior to the infection of the girl, he denies the hospital or the Red Cross has
failed her or her family.
AAP RTV mh/jlw/shm/jn
KEYWORD: HIV BLOOD (MELBOURNE)
1999 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
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