Blood Feuds: AIDS, Blood, and the Politics of Medical Disaster [Paperback]

" ... an informative book ... provides a comprehensive review of the evolution of the crisis in Canada and of the belated response that resulted in [the Krever Inquiry] ... this book is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the many issues raised by the contamination of blood and the "feuds" to which this tragic event gave rise." Clinical and Investigative Medicine (Dec 1999)

"Blood Fueds is a much-needed contribution to our historical and comparative understanding of AIDS. The expanding globalization of AIDS and all that it entails makes this volume an important step in what will undoubtedly have to be a long and ever-widening research agenda." --Law and Politics Book Review

"Blood Feuds: AIDS, Blood, and the Politics of Medical Disaster, a thorough history of the epidemiologic , political, and legal events.... this history provides a basis for beginning to understand and address a dignificant healthcare policy issue."--MedGenMed

"...this book is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the many issues raised by the contamination of blood and the 'fueds' to which this tragic event gave rise."--Clinical and Investigative Medicine

"...the contributions are essentially cool and pragmatic views of the impact of AIDS on the several countries represented. Statements are well referenced, and assessments have been made of the adequacy of the public response, and ways in which this could be improved in any future similar situation....This book should be of great interest to the transfusion community..."--Transfusion Today

"A fascinating comparative analysis of a tragic set of events....This is, in short, a vital book for all those interested in this important chapter in the history of the AIDS tragedy, as well as for those who wish to learn more about how nations with very different cultures and political institutions respond to a common medical disaster."--Jacob S. Hacker, Fellow, The New America Foundation

"A profound analysis of contaminated blood scandals in eight countries (US, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, Italy, Denmark, Australia)."--Le Nouvel Observateur

"This book is a welcome addition to the library of anyone concerned about AIDS/HIV, the contamination of the blood supply, and the lessons that we can learn from this specific aspect of this world-wide epidemic. The contributors provide us with the opportunity to learn from the story of the way the developments were handled in our own country as well as those of the other countries covered. This is a unique contribution to the AIDS/HIV literature."--Doody's Journal

noted in Lancet

"This fascinating book is uniformly well written and easy to read, especially for an edited book with several authors.... The chapters on the individual countries have been written by thoughtful and knowledgeable experts.... By providing a cogent and thorough description of the AIDS saga, Blood Feuds provides insight into coping with these current and future threats to public health. This excellent book is well worth reading.--New England Journal of Medicine

"A major contribution of Blood Feuds is that its comparative analysis of national experiences should puncture any complacency that may exist about the absolute safety of Canada's blood supply, or about the likelihood that our public health and political systems will respond more effectively to future health threats. This book will raise serious questions about the appropriateness of the resulting changes that have been made in many national blood systems." -- Jan Skirrow, Canadian HIV/AIDS Policy and Law Newsletter, Vol 5, No. 2/3, Spring/Summer 2000

In the mid-1980s public health officials in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia discovered that almost half of the hemophiliac population, as well as tens of thousands of blood transfusion recipients, had been infected with HIV-tainted blood. This book provides a comparative perspective on the political, legal, and social struggles that emerged in response to the HIV contamination of the blood supply of the industrialized world. It describes how eight nations responded to the first signs that AIDS might be transmitted through blood, how early efforts to secure the blood supply faltered, and what measures were ultimately implemented to resolve the contamination. The authors detail the remarkable mobilization of hemophiliacs who challenged the state, the medical establishment, and their own caregivers to seek recompense and justice. In the end, the blood establishments in almost all the advanced industrial nations were shaken. In Canada, the Red Cross was forced to withdraw from blood collection and distribution. In Japan, pharmaceutical firms that manufactured clotting factor agreed to massive compensation -- $500,000 per hemophiliac infected. In France, blood officials went to prison. Even in Denmark, where the number of infected hemophiliacs was relatively small, the struggle and litigation surrounding blood has resulted in the most protracted legal and administrative conflict in modern Danish history. Blood Feuds brings together chapters on the experiences of the United States, Japan, France, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Italy, and Australia with four comparative essays that shed light on the cultural, institutional, and economic dimensions of the HIV/blood disaster.