Products Liability - Bad Blood - Strict Liability

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has held that an administrator of a decedent who died of hepatitis allegedly as a result of a transfusion with contaminated blood may maintain a cause of action against a hospital for breach of implied warranties of merchantibility and fitness. Hoffman v. Misericordia Hospital of Philadelphia, 439 Pa. 501, 267 A.2d 867 (1970). Margaret Sullivan entered Misericordia Hospital on May 2, 1967 for the birth of a child. Postnatal complications developed requiring that she receive transfusions of whole blood. The transfused blood was supplied partially by the hospital from its own reserves and partially by the Red Cross. As a result of the transfusions, Mrs. Sullivan contracted serum hepatitis and died. The administrator of her estate brought an implied warranty action against the hospital seeking damages for death