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United Blood Services v. Quintana3/23/1992
In Quintana v. United Blood Services, 811 P.2d 424 (Colo. App. 1991), the court of appeals reversed a judgment entered on a jury verdict for the defendant, United Blood Services (UBS), in a negligence action brought by the plaintiffs, Mrs. Susie Quintana and her husband, Chris Quintana. The Quintanas claimed that UBS, a blood bank, was negligent in supplying a hospital with plasma contaminated with the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) virus and that, as a result of UBS's negligence, the contaminated plasma was given to Mrs. Quintana during surgery and that she subsequently became infected with AIDS. The court of appeals held that the trial court erred in construing section 13-22-104, 6A C.R.S. (1987), as imposing a professional standard of care on a blood bank in acquiring, preparing, and transferring human blood or its components for transfusion into a human being and that the trial court, in its evidentiary rulings and jury instructions, also erred by applying the professional standard of care in a manner that rendered UBS's compliance with the professional standard the equivalent of conclusive proof of reasonable care. In place of the professional standard of care applied by the trial court, the court of appeals reasoned that UBS's conduct "should be measured against what a reasonable and prudent blood bank would or should have done under the same or similar circumstances" and that, under that standard of ordinary care, compliance with governmental regulations and industrial customs and practices would merely constitute evidence of reasonable care and would not be conclusive proof on that issue. 811 P.2d at 431. We granted certiorari to review the decision of the court of appeals. We conclude, as did the court of appeals, that the Quintanas must be granted a new trial, but we do so for reasons different from those relied upon by the court of appeals.
I.
UBS is a non-profit blood banking division of Blood Systems, Inc., and operates blood centers throughout the western United States. In procuring whole blood, UBS relies strictly on volunteer donors and then processes the blood in the form of whole blood or blood components, such as red blood cells, platelets, and fresh frozen plasma, and supplies the blood or blood components to hospitals. In April 1983 UBS received blood from a donor and then processed the blood for use in medical treatment. The blood was transferred to Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez, Colorado.
Approximately one month later, May 27, 1983, Mrs. Quintana suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to Southwest Memorial Hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery. During the surgery she received several units of whole blood and fresh frozen plasma which had been collected and processed by UBS. Approximately one year after the surgery, Mrs. Quintana began to experience a number of symptoms consistent with the presence of the AIDS virus, and in November 1985 she tested positive for the virus. Mrs. Quintana subsequently developed AIDS-Related Complex (ARC), which precedes full blown AIDS, and she ultimately was diagnosed as suffering from AIDS. It was later determined that the donor of the unit of blood collected in April 1983 and given to Mrs. Quintana tested positive for the AIDS virus. UBS learned from the donor's physician that the donor pursued a "gay lifestyle."
Mrs. Quintana and her husband sued UBS for negligence. As pertinent here, the Quintanas predicated their negligence claim on UBS's failure to properly screen the blood donor for potential infection with the AIDS virus through the use of questioning and physical examination and in failing to properly screen the do
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