Paterson, N.J.--A patient who has asked that his name remain confidential
has sued St. Joseph's Hospital in Paterson, saying the hospital gave him
HIV-tainted blood during a 1984 operation. The patient, who has yet to
develop AIDS, says that better screening of the 13 pints of blood he
received during the open-heart operation would have prevented his
infection with HIV. The suit, filed in Superior Court in Hackensack,
names the hospital, the hospital's blood bank, and the man's doctor as
co-defendants. Across the country, 200 people infected through
transfusions have filed similar suits. A blood test for the virus was
not available until 1985. None of the people who have filed suit over
transfusion-induced AIDS cases have won, says the American Association of
Blood Banks. "Everyone was doing what they were supposed to do at the
best of their ability, an something happened which was tragic," said Bob
Rigney, a lawyer for the blood bank association.