A decision by an Ontario judge is expected Monday against several people who were charged in the country's tainted blood scandal that left thousands of Canadians infected with HIV or hepatitis C.

Superior Court Justice Mary Lou Benotto is expected to deliver a verdict against Dr. Roger Perrault, former national medical director of the Canadian Red Cross, and two government bureaucrats who were charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after hemophilia patients were allegedly given an HIV-infected blood-clotting product in the 1980s and early 1990s. All three men plead not guilty.

Dr. Roger Perrault stands outside the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto in February 2006.
(CBC)

The product's U.S.-based maker and one of its executives are also on trial.

The tainted blood scandal is considered Canada's worst preventable public health disaster. Twenty-thousand people contracted hepatitis C and another 1,000 were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus through the transfusion of blood and blood products.

In 1993, Ontario Justice Horace Krever looked into what went wrong with the nation's blood supply during the 1980s and recommended at the conclusion of the inquiry that all victims of the tainted blood tragedy be compensated, not just those covered by Ottawa's original package.  

But this is the first criminal trial connected to the scandal.

"A trial like this is a real message to the people working in the system today," said John Plater, a lawyer and member of the Canadian Hemophilia Society. "We believe most people are doing a good job and doing it as best they can. But this is a real reminder that you have to do your job or there will be this kind of scrutiny."

Monday's verdict will likely comfort many victims, including hemophiliac Ernie Zivny, who plans to be in the courtroom.

"We need closure," he said. "There are widows, widowers, orphans, [and] children that have lost family members."