Subject: AIDS Victim Verdict Upheld
Date: Published: 11/3/92 (50 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Law -- Legal Beat:
    Secret Taping of Supervisors Is on the Rise, Lawyers Say
    ----
    By Junda Woo
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

[117 lines irrelevant to AIDS omitted.  -- sysop]
 
    AIDS VICTIM'S $8.2 million verdict upheld by trial judge in
 Denver case.
    The case was notable for the allegation that the blood-bank
 industry as a whole had been negligent in 1983 and 1984 for failing
 to do more to screen out blood donors at high risk for acquired
 immune deficiency syndrome.  At the time, doctors for the Centers for
 Disease Control were warning that AIDS probably was transmissible by
 blood, but it wasn't yet certain that this was the case.  A direct
 test for the AIDS virus wasn't developed until 1985.
    In the Denver case, the plaintiff, Susie Quintana of Dolores,
 Colo., sued United Blood Services, which in 1983 had provided her
 with blood that turned out to be tainted with the AIDS virus.  At
 issue was whether the blood bank was negligent in following the
 industry's lead.  Like most blood banks, UBS informed donors about
 risk factors for AIDS and urged anyone at high risk to exclude
 himself, but didn't question donors directly about their sexual
 practices or use blood tests that would have screened out many
 people at high risk.
    Ms. Quintana died last July 30 just as her lawyer, Maureen Witt,
 was making her closing statement in the case.  The jury wasn't
 informed of Ms. Quintana's death and was sequestered for its
 deliberations.
    Arthur H. Downey, an attorney in Denver for United Blood
 Services, a division of Blood Systems Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz.,
 contested the verdict and sought a new trial.  He argued in part that
 Ms. Quintana's death changed the nature of the case and eliminated
 certain categories of potential damages, such as payment for her
 future medical expenses and her future pain and suffering.
    Judge Nancy Rice ruled that since all the evidence was in before
 Ms. Quintana's death and was valid at the time it was presented, the
 verdict must stand.  Mr. Downey couldn't be reached for comment on
 whether UBS would appeal.
    (Quintana vs. United Blood Services, Denver District Court, Civ.
 No. 86 CV11750).

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