Four doctors and a U.S. drug company were acquitted of criminal charges relating to the distribution of a tainted blood-clotting product that left many infected with HIV and hepatitis C in one of Canada's biggest public health disasters.

After an 18-month trial, Superior Court Justice Mary Lou Benotto acquitted former officials from the Canadian Red Cross Society, Health Canada and New Jersey-based Armour Pharmaceutical Co. of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and common nuisance endangering the public.

Dr. Roger Perrault, the society's former national medical director, former Health Canada officials Dr. John Furesz and Dr. Donald Boucher, and ex-Armour Pharmaceutical executive Dr. Michael Rodell were charged with one count each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and common nuisance endangering the public after patients were given the infected blood-clotting product in 1986-87. Armour Pharmaceutical faced the same charges.

The judge called the events "tragic, but to assign blame where none exists would compound the tragedy," the CBC's Kas Roussy reported from outside the Toronto courthouse.

"There was no conduct that showed wanton and reckless disregard," Benotto said in delivering her verdict.

"There was no marked departure from the standard of a reasonable person. On the contrary, the conduct examined in detail for over one and a half years confirms reasonable, responsible and professional actions and responses during a difficult time."

Survivors criticize ruling

Many survivors, who were in the Toronto courtroom for the judge's ruling, were shocked and visibly upset by the acquittals.

The decision was a "miscarriage of justice," said Mike McCarthy, past vice-president of the Canadian Hemophilia Society, who contracted hepatitis C more than 20 years ago.
 

James Kreppner, left, who was infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the mid-1980s, reacts to the verdict. John Plater, a member of the Canadian Hemophilia Society, looks on.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

"How this judge can term that to be professional conduct is just astounding," said an irate James Kreppner, who was infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the mid-1980s. "It wasn't the conclusion that we would come to, based on the evidence we've seen."

John Plater, a member of the hemophilia society, said he trusted the Crown would examine Benotto's decision "very closely" for a potential appeal.
 
"She really thought they did a great job, and we just can't understand how that can be," Plater said outside the courthouse.

Janet Conners, who contracted HIV from her husband, a hemophiliac who died of AIDS in 1994, told CBC News that she was left "stunned" by the verdict.

"It was just so unexpected, given the quality in nature of the evidence that was presented in the trial," Conners said. "It didn't really enter my mind that there would be an acquittal."

Defence reacts to acquittal

Following the verdict, a defence lawyer for Furesz said his client was "emotionally overwhelmed" by the exoneration.

"These charges should never have been laid, and they only compounded the tragedy," he said.

Edward Greenspan, defence lawyer for Perrault, said, "We always believed in Dr. Perrault's innocence."

"His complete exoneration is something we've been hoping for and actually expecting for the last 10 years," Greenspan said. "We could not have hoped for a clearer vindication. We could not have hoped for a better result."

Despite the ruling, the lengthy battle has taken a heavy toll on Perrault, 70, Greenspan said, adding that his client is not a happy man after spending the past decade trying to restore his reputation.

Federal officials declined to comment on the ruling, but said that the government is in the process of compensating victims with a $1 billion settlement.

The counts of criminal negligence focused specifically on four victims — who cannot be named under a court order — who contracted HIV from tainted blood. Three of them have died. The counts of common nuisance related to people living in Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Alberta.

The ruling in Canada's first criminal trial on the tainted blood scandal reflects only one small part of what is considered Canada's worst preventable public health disaster. Twenty-thousand people contracted hepatitis C and more than 1,000 were infected with HIV through the transfusion of blood and blood products in the 1980s and 1990s.

It's not clear how many people have died as a result, but in 1997 the toll reached 3,000.

Krever changed blood supply management

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, not just those covered by Ottawa's original package, be compensated.

The Krever royal commission also led to a change in how the blood supply is managed. Canadian Blood Services, a non-profit organization, now oversees the blood and blood products supply across the country, except in Quebec, where it's managed by Héma-Québec.

Perrault still faces a second criminal trial later this year in Hamilton on several charges stemming from allegations that the Red Cross and senior officials failed to take adequate measures to screen donors.

In May 2006, the Red Cross apologized to tens of thousands of Canadians infected with HIV or hepatitis C.

The Crown withdrew charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and common nuisance against the charity in exchange for a guilty plea under the federal Food and Drugs Act.

The Red Cross accepted responsibility, paying a $5,000 fine and dedicating $1.5 million to a scholarship fund and research project aimed at reducing medical errors.

With files from the Canadian Press