Salon Newsreal | Blood money

T A B L E+T A L K
Do you agree or disagree with President Clinton's decision to bomb Iraq? Join the debate in Table Talk's International Issues area

R E C E N T L Y
Portrait of a political "pit bull"
By Russ Baker
Rep. Dan Burton has a few questions to answer about his own history of womanizing and alleged campaign finance irregularities.
(12/22/98)
What if it were President Packwood?
By Andrew Ross
Liberals must face up to their hypocrisy in backing a president who lied under oath in a sexual harassment lawsuit
(12/22/98)
Life of the party?
By Joshua Micah Marshall
With Livingston gone, Tom DeLay runs the party
(12/19/98)
On to the Senate
By Harry Jaffe
With impeachment behind him, the president carries on. And on (12/19/98)
A plague on all their houses
By Murray Waas
On Capitol Hill, partisan hard-liners have damaged the constitutional democracy they claim to hold so dear
(12/18/98)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Browse the
Newsreal Archives
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

spacer

BLOOD MONEY | PAGE 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5
- - - - - - - - - -
In 1983, the FDA initiated an international recall of plasma that might have been tainted with hepatitis B, which can also be an indicator of HIV infection. Several prisoners who had previously tested positive for hepatitis B were allowed to donate blood at Cummins, and the tainted units had been sold by HMA to Cryosan. Cryosan in turn sold the plasma to corporations in Switzerland, Spain, Japan and Italy, as well as to Toronto-based Connaught Laboratories, which pooled the plasma with other blood products needed by hemophiliacs to make their blood clot, and sold the blood throughout Canada.
It was only then, during the crisis over the recall, that the Canadians learned they were buying plasma collected from prison inmates. "The shipping papers accompanying the plasma had not revealed that the centre was located in a prison," the Krever commission report revealed. "They had simply referred to the source as the 'ADC Plasma Center, Grady, Arkansas,' without any indication that 'ADC' stood for 'Arkansas Department of Corrections.'"
After that screening lapse, the FDA shut down the plasma program for several months. During the shutdown, it was discovered that an inmate clerk in the plasma center had been selling the "right to bleed" to fellow inmates who otherwise would have been excluded because they were likely infected with hepatitis B.
In 1984, the FDA found that Health Management Associates had prematurely and improperly distributed plasma contaminated with hepatitis. Twelve ineligible donors had given blood in a breach of screening processes, and an international recall resulted. The FDA then revoked the center's license to operate. An investigation revealed that the program allowed disqualified donors to bleed, altered records and stored plasma in ways that didn't prevent contamination. It also found that plasma center staff wasn't well-supervised, and discovered attempts by people in HMA "management positions" at the center to hide from FDA inspectors the fact that they had either "initiated or condoned the destruction or alteration of records concerning these activities."
Within months, after promising to clean up its act, HMA applied for a new license. Henderson and Byus blamed the recall on a corrupt inmate clerk who'd been paid off by potentially infected donors. The inmate was removed, and some employees were fired. The program continued for "the good of the inmates," Henderson says. "The prison needed money, too, you have to understand." HMA got its license approved again.
But the plasma program wasn't the only source of scandal within the Arkansas prison system. In 1985 inmates began complaining loudly about prison medical care and rights abuses, including rape. That year Arkansas prisons had the highest number of inmate complaints of any state in the country. State Rep. Bobby Glover, a Democrat, became a champion for prisoners with stories of abuse. His office collected a raft of allegations, ranging from rape and other forms of abuse to bid rigging, theft of state property and the use of state property for private work and gambling.
Glover pushed for answers, and eventually the Arkansas Board of Corrections hired the independent Institute for Law and Policy Planning in Berkeley, Calif., to conduct an investigation of HMA. Fifteen days after that announcement, Gov. Clinton ordered the state police to investigate reports of criminal conduct within the prison system. The results of these two inquiries would offer a case study of the difference in the way Arkansas insiders and independent evaluators viewed the prison system's problems.
The state police prison investigation resulted in two misdemeanor charges and one felony charge for employees running a gambling operation. Only a few weeks into it, Clinton himself urged a speedy end to the probe. "I told them to get it done and get it over with," Clinton told reporters. Complaints about poor health care and the plasma program resulted in no action, and Arkansas Department of Corrections director Art Lockhart, who had been at the center of the allegations, was not punished. Clinton said the prison system had been "studied to death" and refused to oust Lockhart.
But investigators with the Institute for Law and Policy Planning reached very different conclusions. ILPP executive director Dr. Alan Kalmanoff highlighted 40 areas where HMA violated its state contract, including a conflict of interest in HMA's operating both the medical department and plasma program. The report showed that HMA and the department of corrections had only recently developed procedures for handling AIDS cases, and were "only then developing a refined approach to AIDS screening and testing."
The report also charged that HMA had failed to meet many significant professional standards. It had hired a large number of unlicensed, uncertified or legally unqualified medical staff. Tuberculosis was rampant in the prison. Eight inmate deaths were reviewed, and while the report said that the deaths probably could not have been prevented, it did note that "regular health assessment" and "complete" record-keeping had not occurred. And HMA director Henderson had not been spending the hours that he should on the medical program, the report alleged.
N E X T+P A G E+| Friends in high places

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Become a Salon member. Click here.

T A B L E+T A L K Do you agree or disagree with President Clinton's decision to bomb Iraq? Join the debate in Table Talk's International Issues area R E C E N T L Y Portrait of a political "pit bull" By Russ Baker Rep. Dan Burton has a few questions to answer about his own history of womanizing and alleged campaign finance irregularities. (12/22/98) What if it were President Packwood? By Andrew Ross Liberals must face up to their hypocrisy in backing a president who lied under oath in a sexual harassment lawsuit (12/22/98) Life of the party? By Joshua Micah Marshall With Livingston gone, Tom DeLay runs the party (12/19/98) On to the Senate By Harry Jaffe With impeachment behind him, the president carries on. And on (12/19/98) A plague on all their houses By Murray Waas On Capitol Hill, partisan hard-liners have damaged the constitutional democracy they claim to hold so dear (12/18/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		BLOOD MONEY \| PAGE 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5 - - - - - - - - - - In 1983, the FDA initiated an international recall of plasma that might have been tainted with hepatitis B, which can also be an indicator of HIV infection. Several prisoners who had previously tested positive for hepatitis B were allowed to donate blood at Cummins, and the tainted units had been sold by HMA to Cryosan. Cryosan in turn sold the plasma to corporations in Switzerland, Spain, Japan and Italy, as well as to Toronto-based Connaught Laboratories, which pooled the plasma with other blood products needed by hemophiliacs to make their blood clot, and sold the blood throughout Canada. It was only then, during the crisis over the recall, that the Canadians learned they were buying plasma collected from prison inmates. "The shipping papers accompanying the plasma had not revealed that the centre was located in a prison," the Krever commission report revealed. "They had simply referred to the source as the 'ADC Plasma Center, Grady, Arkansas,' without any indication that 'ADC' stood for 'Arkansas Department of Corrections.'" After that screening lapse, the FDA shut down the plasma program for several months. During the shutdown, it was discovered that an inmate clerk in the plasma center had been selling the "right to bleed" to fellow inmates who otherwise would have been excluded because they were likely infected with hepatitis B. In 1984, the FDA found that Health Management Associates had prematurely and improperly distributed plasma contaminated with hepatitis. Twelve ineligible donors had given blood in a breach of screening processes, and an international recall resulted. The FDA then revoked the center's license to operate. An investigation revealed that the program allowed disqualified donors to bleed, altered records and stored plasma in ways that didn't prevent contamination. It also found that plasma center staff wasn't well-supervised, and discovered attempts by people in HMA "management positions" at the center to hide from FDA inspectors the fact that they had either "initiated or condoned the destruction or alteration of records concerning these activities." Within months, after promising to clean up its act, HMA applied for a new license. Henderson and Byus blamed the recall on a corrupt inmate clerk who'd been paid off by potentially infected donors. The inmate was removed, and some employees were fired. The program continued for "the good of the inmates," Henderson says. "The prison needed money, too, you have to understand." HMA got its license approved again. But the plasma program wasn't the only source of scandal within the Arkansas prison system. In 1985 inmates began complaining loudly about prison medical care and rights abuses, including rape. That year Arkansas prisons had the highest number of inmate complaints of any state in the country. State Rep. Bobby Glover, a Democrat, became a champion for prisoners with stories of abuse. His office collected a raft of allegations, ranging from rape and other forms of abuse to bid rigging, theft of state property and the use of state property for private work and gambling. Glover pushed for answers, and eventually the Arkansas Board of Corrections hired the independent Institute for Law and Policy Planning in Berkeley, Calif., to conduct an investigation of HMA. Fifteen days after that announcement, Gov. Clinton ordered the state police to investigate reports of criminal conduct within the prison system. The results of these two inquiries would offer a case study of the difference in the way Arkansas insiders and independent evaluators viewed the prison system's problems. The state police prison investigation resulted in two misdemeanor charges and one felony charge for employees running a gambling operation. Only a few weeks into it, Clinton himself urged a speedy end to the probe. "I told them to get it done and get it over with," Clinton told reporters. Complaints about poor health care and the plasma program resulted in no action, and Arkansas Department of Corrections director Art Lockhart, who had been at the center of the allegations, was not punished. Clinton said the prison system had been "studied to death" and refused to oust Lockhart. But investigators with the Institute for Law and Policy Planning reached very different conclusions. ILPP executive director Dr. Alan Kalmanoff highlighted 40 areas where HMA violated its state contract, including a conflict of interest in HMA's operating both the medical department and plasma program. The report showed that HMA and the department of corrections had only recently developed procedures for handling AIDS cases, and were "only then developing a refined approach to AIDS screening and testing." The report also charged that HMA had failed to meet many significant professional standards. It had hired a large number of unlicensed, uncertified or legally unqualified medical staff. Tuberculosis was rampant in the prison. Eight inmate deaths were reviewed, and while the report said that the deaths probably could not have been prevented, it did note that "regular health assessment" and "complete" record-keeping had not occurred. And HMA director Henderson had not been spending the hours that he should on the medical program, the report alleged. N E X T+P A G E+\| Friends in high places - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Become a Salon member. Click here.