NOTIFYING PATIENTS EXPOSED TO BLOOD PRODUCTS ASSOCIATED WITH CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB-DISEASE - INTEGRATING SCIENCE, LEGAL DUTIES AND ETHICAL MANDATES

THE ISSUE OF NOTIFYING PEOPLE who have been exposed to blood products that have been associated with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) has ari sen at a time when the Canadian blood system is under intense scrutiny . As a result, the Canadian Red Cross Society issued a recommendation to health care institutions that recipients of CJD-associated blood pr oducts be identified, notified and counselled. Although Canadian juris prudence in the realm of informed consent may support a policy of indi vidual notification, a review of the scientific evidence and the appli cable ethical principles arguably favours a policy of a more general p ublic notification. Indeed, situations such as this require a unique a pproach to the formation of legal and ethical duties, one that effecti vely integrates all relevant factors. As such, the authors argue that individual notification is currently not justified. Nevertheless, if a system of general notification is implemented (e.g., through a series of public health announcements), it should provide, for people who wi sh to know, the opportunity to find out whether they were given CJD-as sociated products.