Blood feuds : AIDS, blood, and the politics of medical disaster

Bibliographic Information

Blood feuds : AIDS, blood, and the politics of medical disaster

edited by Eric A. Feldman, Ronald Bayer

Oxford University Press, 1999

  • : cloth
  • : pbk

Available at  / 15 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

: cloth ISBN 9780195129298

Description

In the mid-1980s public health officials in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia discovered that almost half of the haemophiliac 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 industrialized worlds blood supply. It describes how eight nations responded to the first signs that AIDS might be transmitted through blood, and how they falteringly arrived at and finally implemented measures to secure the blood supply. The authors detail the remarkable saga of the mobilization of haemophiliacs who challenged the state, the medical establishment, and even their own caregivers as they sought recompense and justice. In the end, the blood establishments in almost every advanced industrial nation 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 - USD500,000 per haemophiliac infected. In France, blood officials went to prison. Even in Denmark, where the number of infected haemophiliacs 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.

Table of Contents

  • PART I: NATIONAL ENCOUNTERS WITH BLOOD AND AIDS
  • 1. Introduction: Understanding the Blood Feuds
  • 2. Blood and AIDS in America: Science, Politics, and the Making of an Iatrogenic Catastrophe
  • 3. HIV and Blood in Japan: Transforming Private Conflict into Public Scandal
  • 4. The Nations Blood: Medicine, Justice, and the State in France
  • 5. From Trust to Tragedy: HIV / AIDS and the Canadian Blood System
  • 6. The Never-Ending Story? The Political and Legal Controversies over HIV and the Blood Supply in Denmark
  • 7. Blood Scandal and AIDS in Germany
  • 8. Blood, Bureaucracy and Law: Responding to the HIV-Tainted Blood in Italy
  • 9. HIV-Contaminated Blood and Australian Policy: The Limits of Success
  • PART II: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON THE POLITICS OF MEDICAL DISASTER
  • 10. Cultural Perspectives on Blood
  • 11. The Politics of Blood: Hemophilia Activism in the AIDS Crisis
  • 12. The Circulation of the Blood: AIDS, Blood and the Economics of Information
  • 13. Conclusion: The Comparative Politics of Contaminated Blood: From Hesitancy to Scandal
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780195131604

Description

In the mid-1980s public health officials in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia discovered that almost half of the haemophiliac 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 haemophiliacs 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 haemophiliac infected. In France, blood officials went to prison. Even in Denmark, where the number of infected haemophiliacs 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.

Table of Contents

  • PART I: NATIONAL ENCOUNTERS WITH BLOOD AND AIDS
  • 1. Introduction: Understanding the Blood Feuds
  • 2. Blood and AIDS in America: Science, Politics, and the Making of an Iatrogenic Catastrophe
  • 3. HIV and Blood in Japan: Transforming Private Conflict into Public Scandal
  • 4. The Nations Blood: Medicine, Justice, and the State in France
  • 5. From Trust to Tragedy: HIV / AIDS and the Canadian Blood System
  • 6. The Never-Ending Story? The Political and Legal Controversies over HIV and the Blood Supply in Denmark
  • 7. Blood Scandal and AIDS in Germany
  • 8. Blood, Bureaucracy and Law: Responding to the HIV-Tainted Blood in Italy
  • 9. HIV-Contaminated Blood and Australian Policy: The Limits of Success
  • PART II: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON THE POLITICS OF MEDICAL DISASTER
  • 10. Cultural Perspectives on Blood
  • 11. The Politics of Blood: Hemophilia Activism in the AIDS Crisis
  • 12. The Circulation of the Blood: AIDS, Blood and the Economics of Information
  • 13. Conclusion: The Comparative Politics of Contaminated Blood: From Hesitancy to Scandal

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