October 2nd Canada.Com - Suzanne Goldman and Shannon Kari, Calgary Herald and CanWest News Service
Three former Canadian health officials, a U.S. pharmaceutical company and one of its former executives have been acquitted in the first criminal trial related to Canada's tainted blood tragedy that left thousands infected with HIV or hepatitis C.
Dr. Roger Perrault, 70, Dr. Wark Boucher, 66, Dr. John Furesz, 79, Armour Pharmaceutical Co. and its former vice-president Dr. Michael Rodell, 74, were each facing four charges of criminal negligence and one count of commission of a common nuisance.
Armour was also charged with violating the Food and Drugs Act.
All defendants were acquitted Monday following a 19-month trial.
In Alberta, news of the verdict delivered a harsh blow to victims suffering as a result of contaminated blood products.
"There's no justice in this country. I'm shocked and I'm angry," said Vikki Boddy of Lethbridge, who was infected with hepatitis C during cancer surgery in 1984.
"And even worse, the next time it happens again, a judge has already said it's OK to kill the Canadian public."
For others, the decision has quelled all hope that any party will be held criminally responsible for the scandal.
"It is frustrating. I don't think it's right that Canada allows lies and criminal politics to go on," said Calgarian Brenda Assailly.
The mother of three has been living with hepatitis C for 29 years after contracting it through a blood transfusion.
Lawyers involved in class-action lawsuits pertaining to the scandal said they suspect many victims will be disappointed by the judgment, but will be better served through civil proceedings.
"The issue has been dealt with through the civil courts and I think there's been accountability through the civil courts," said Calgary lawyer Clint Docken, who represents 200 victims of the tainted blood scandal.
Vaughn Marshall, a Calgary lawyer who is leading one of the class-action cases, said the $1-billion federal compensation package approved in Alberta in June for victims left out of previous settlements will make it easier for them to move on with their lives.
"The civil case is going to deliver far more justice to individuals than a criminal verdict ever could," Marshall said.
The ruling was a stunning loss for the Crown and the RCMP, after a nearly 20-month-long trial and five-year police investigation. The verdicts issued Monday by Ontario Superior Court Justice Mary Lou Benotto effectively declared the four accused innocent.
"The burden of proof in a criminal case is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. To acquit the accused on this basis, however, would be to damn with faint praise," said Benotto. "The allegations of criminal conduct on the part of these men and this corporation were not only unsupported by the evidence, they were disproved," she concluded.
More than 1,000 people were infected with HIV from tainted blood in Canada in the 1980s and as many as 20,000 others contracted hepatitis C.
The criminal charges related to the HIV infection of four people in B.C. and Alberta who received the Armour HT-Factorate blood clotting product in 1986 and 1987. Only one of the victims is still alive.
At the time of the alleged offences, Perrault was the director of the Canadian Red Cross blood transfusion service. Boucher and Furesz were top officials at the Bureau of Biologics, a Health Canada agency that regulated blood products.
The Crown alleged that the defendants were aware of the potential risks from the product and did not take the necessary steps to protect hemophiliacs before the HT Factorate was recalled by Armour in December 1987.
Benotto described the tainted blood infections as a tragedy, although she rejected the Crown theory that the defendants did not act properly in assessing health risks for hemophiliacs receiving the blood products.
[ Sponsor Content ] "The conduct examined in detail for over one-and-a-half years confirms reasonable, responsible and professional actions and responses during a difficult time," said the judge.
As the judge read out the acquittals Monday afternoon, there were audible sighs of disbelief from representatives of the Canadian Hemophilia Society in the courtroom.
"We are shocked," said the society's John Plater. "We don't know how she could say their conduct was professional or reasonable. She really thought they did a good job."
Plater referred to Benotto's decision as "ludicrous" and urged the Crown to appeal.
Edward Greenspan, who represented Perrault, rejected a suggestion by the Hemophilia Society that the defence had a legal "dream team" that was able to outmatch the Crown during the trial.
"The prosecution had untold money to spend," said Greenspan. "The Crown called over a hundred witnesses. The bottom line is there was no criminal conduct," he stressed.
The Crown was unavailable for comment.
sgoldman@theherald.canwest.com
