Need to Keep Blood Donors Secret Argued : Danger in AIDS Suits Worries Red Cross; FDA Denies Problem

WASHINGTON —  The nation’s blood supply could be depleted unless Congress passes a law protecting the confidentiality of blood donors from subpoenas in AIDS lawsuits, the American Red Cross told a House subcommittee today.

But federal health officials testified at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health and the environment that new legislation probably is unnecessary because existing privacy protections for blood donors are adequate.

“I am concerned that as government reaches further into records and as lawsuits reach wider for defendants, scientists and blood banks may become less able to recruit volunteers,” panel Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) said.

“We could end up with high costs, bad science and inadequate supplies of blood,” said Waxman, who supports federal donor confidentiality legislation. “The first disclosure of blood donors (names) could jeopardize supplies for years.”

Names Sought by Subpoena

At issue are the attempts by lawyers representing people who believe they contracted AIDS through blood transfusions to obtain through subpoena the names of people who donated the blood.

“Without federal legislation protecting the confidentiality of donor identity and donor information, every donor would be subject to becoming involved in a civil suit,” an American Red Cross vice president, Victor Schmitt, told the subcommittee.

“This would unquestionably serve as a deterrent to blood donations,” he said.

The fear expressed by Waxman, the Red Cross and other blood donor groups is that once names are produced, donors will be quizzed in depositions about intimate details of their private lives, even though the donors do not have acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Donations Might Dry Up

As a result, they said, blood donations would dry up--a serious prospect since volunteers give 98% of the nation’s blood.

The American Assn. of Blood Banks and the American Blood Resources Assn. joined the Red Cross in calling for federal legislation.

But Dr. Frank Young, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told the panel that there is no evidence such confidentiality has been regularly violated.

“In the absence of such evidence, there certainly would be serious question as to whether legislation is needed,” Young testified. “And if the problem is found to be only AIDS-related, there would at least be a question as to whether anything more than targeted protection is appropriate.”