The AIDS Blood-Transfusion Cases: A Legal and Economic Analysis of Liability

Through 1991 over 4,000 persons contracted AIDS through transfusion. Statutes in forty-nine states exempt blood banks from strict liability, and the usual negligence rule is weak. Analyzing the medical literature, regulation, and case law, Eckert argues that blood bankers have superior information for reducing risk and that stronger liability rules should be reconsidered. He finds that industry-wide standards of care often emerge from agreements among the three associations of blood banks, and that joint liability for blood banks should be considered. The Article concludes that blood banks should be subject to strict liability in tort, and Eckert discusses the effects on their operations of repealing the laws that shield the blood banks from strict liability