Blood and Betrayal

In 1990, medical politicians conducted a hostile takeover of the Wadley Research Institute and Blood Bank, in fear of the economic consequences of doing a hepatitis C lookback. That ended 56 years of service by my father in 1975, then myself in 1990, as the medical directors/CEOs of the principle blood bank in Dallas Texas. In the 1980s, AIDS, then hepatitis C viruses were discovered. Blood banks began screening donations for these viruses to protect patients receiving the blood. But what about patients who were infected by transfusions before screening tests were developed?

In 1990, medical politicians conducted a hostile takeover of the Wadley Research Institute and Blood Bank, in fear of the economic consequences of doing a hepatitis C lookback. That ended 56 years of service by my father in 1975, then myself in 1990, as the medical directors/CEOs of the principle blood bank in Dallas Texas. In the 1980s, AIDS, then hepatitis C viruses were discovered. Blood banks began screening donations for these viruses to protect patients receiving the blood. But what about patients who were infected by transfusions before screening tests were developed? There was no way to know how long a donor had been infected. I advocated finding patients who had received donors' blood in previous years to learn if they were infected. Patients needed to know their health was in danger and there was a risk of passing the infection to their loved ones and others. The notification procedure known as "lookback" was strongly opposed within the medical community. This is a history of scientific progress, medical politics and the betrayal of patients by trusted officials concerning AIDS and hepatitis C.

Norwood Oakley Hill, M. D., Is a physician whose career spanned both research and patient care in the fields of blood diseases, leukemia, cancer, and blood banking. Dr. Hill has a BS degree in chemistry from Yale University in 1957 and his MD degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1961, as well as fellowships in DNA chemistry and Virology. His postgraduate education included internship and residencies at Houston's Jefferson Davis/Ben Taub Hospitals and Dallas' Parkland Hospital followed by hematology/oncology training at Wadley Research Institute. His military service was at Randolph Air Force Base Hospital from 1963 to 1965. Dr. Hill authored and co-authored 134 publications and presentations. He was medical director of the Wadley Blood Bank from 1968 to 1990 and president of The Wadley Institutes of Molecular Medicine from 1975 to 1990. He was actively involved in developing new drugs for the treatment of leukemia and cancer, including L-asparaginase, cisplatin, and interferon where he developed the first interferon production laboratory in the United States. His efforts to improve the safety of donated blood included research testing for the earliest implementation of safety tests for hepatitis B, human T-cell leukemia virus, and hepatitis C. He also originated the concept of lookback, a program to notify patients who may have been infected with AIDS, T-cell leukemia virus, or hepatitis C if their blood donor tested positive on a subsequent donation.