Canadian doctor
in HIV-tainted-blood scandal ordered to stand trial

A Canadian judge this week ordered that a doctor involved in a scandal in which Canadian hemophiliacs were given blood products known to be contaminated with HIV will stand trial, despite being in poor health, TheOttawa Sun reports. Roger Perrault, the former director of the blood transfusion service of the Canadian Red Cross, has been charged with four counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one of endangering the public for his role in the scandal, in which thousands of hemophiliacs were given tainted blood-clotting products in the 1980s and early 1990s. An estimated 2,000 people contracted HIV, and 20,000 contracted hepatitis C from the tainted products.

Attorneys for Perrault, who is 68 years old and has suffered from heart problems requiring angioplasty and bypass surgery, had pushed for the charges to be stayed because of the man's poor health. But Justice Mary Lou Benetto ruled that the trial--expected to last up to 13 months--or any punishment he might receive if found guilty do not pose a substantial risk to his health. She also said there is a great public interest in the trial's going forward.