Feds Hit Red Cross With $9.6M Fine

FDA sites badly trained staff, poor record-keeping

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 16, 2012 7:36 PM CST

(Newser) – The feds have slapped the American Red Cross with a $9.6 million fine for careless blood management practices, MSNBC reports. The FDA uncovered no actual harm to blood recipients, but expressed concern over poorly trained staff and slipshod record-keeping: We "cannot definitively say there was never any danger to the blood supply since the violations can create conditions that could lead to potential safety consequences,” an official said.

Facing its second multi-million-dollar FDA fine in two years, the Red Cross accused officials of concentrating on a 15-month-old inspection in Philadelphia where practices have since been improved. “We are disappointed that the FDA believed it necessary to impose a fine for an inspection conducted so long ago,” a Red Cross official said. Among the FDA's findings: a donor sprayed with blood during a drive in Peoria, Illinois, and a failure to contact patients who may have received contaminated blood.

The FDA has hit the American Red Cross with its second multi-million-dollar fine in two years. (Shutterstock)

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 19 comments

trailmix

Jan 17, 2012 12:24 PM CST

The FDA what a joke, they turn a blind eye on the fast food industry, which promotes and sells products that dramatically exceed Recommended Daily Values of Fat,Sugar and Salt.

hopeandchange

Jan 17, 2012 1:54 AM CST

The Red Cross, like everything else since the liberals took over, has gone downhill further and further with incompetence. It's an affirmative action hire utopia so nobody thinks and everyone is incompetent. The only thing keeping a catastrophe from happening is the technology that any trained monkey can run.

MarleeAshtonSmith

Jan 16, 2012 8:33 PM CST

this really doesn't surprise me, when I donated they were 'fishing' for blood with the needle, which pretty much them taking the needle in and out prodding the vein instead of just using another one... and then ended up taking too long to take my blood and ended up having to discard it... what a waste.

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Feds Hit Red Cross With $9.6M Fine

FDA sites badly trained staff, poor record-keeping

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