AIDS Victim Files Suit, Blames UCI Blood Unit

A Palm Springs man suffering from AIDS filed suit Thursday against the University of California, claiming that he was infected with the disease by contaminated blood he received while a patient at UCI Medical Center in 1985.

In the lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Brian Watkins, 32, asserts that he contracted acquired immune deficiency syndrome from blood transfusions he received while hospitalized after being injured in a motorcycle accident in May, 1985.

However, the medical director of UCI’s blood bank said he doubted the truth of Watkins’ claims because the hospital then was using blood tested for the presence of antibodies to the AIDS virus.

Dr. Jose A. Ocariz said that the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross, which supplies blood to UCI and most local hospitals, had begun testing donated blood in March, 1985.

The tests used are considered extremely accurate in detecting the presence of antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes AIDS, Ocariz said.

The test, however, does not detect the presence of the virus itself; since it is thought to take two months for the body’s immune system to develop HIV antibodies, some blood containing the virus can go undetected.

Watkins was diagnosed as having AIDS--a disease that attacks the body’s immune system and one for which there is no cure--in November, according to his attorney, Robert M. Fox.

Fox said that his client had been told by “informed sources” that the blood he received at UCI was contaminated. Fox declined to identify the sources, however.

“It was either an unchecked batch (of blood) or some kind of mistake,” Fox said.

Ocariz rejected that assertion.

“This individual received tested blood,” he said.

Ocariz would not comment further, except to say, “I don’t know if Mr. Watkins belongs to any of the high-risk groups” for the contraction of AIDS.

AIDS is transmitted primarily by sexual contact and by exposure to contaminated blood. The great majority of the disease’s victims have been homosexuals and intravenous drug abusers, the latter group spreading the disease through shared hypodermic syringes.

Fox said that his client was neither homosexual nor an intravenous drug abuser. Watkins himself could not be reached for comment.

Watkins formerly worked in hotel management but has been unemployed since his diagnosis, Fox said. Watkins is undergoing treatment with the experimental AIDS drug AZT, and has shown some improvement under it, the attorney said.

In March, 1986, the family of a hemophiliac boy filed suit against UCI Medical Center, charging that he contracted AIDS from a blood coagulant received from the hospital.

That suit is pending.

Under the law, a medical malpractice suit based on infected blood must demonstrate that the defendants were negligent in having the blood transfused. The fact that a patient received contaminated blood is not by itself grounds for legal action.

Those statutes are intended to protect agencies such as the Red Cross from litigation that could endanger the blood supply, Ocariz and Fox said.