Claims and compensation for complications resulting from blood transfusions in China from 1998 to 2013

The purpose of this study was to find causes, outcomes, and trends in malpractice litigation involving blood transfusions in China. This study examines 108 claims resulting from transfusion-related complications over a period of 15 years. The primary outcomes associated with these claims included transfusion-transmitted infection (98 cases, 90.8%), transfusion reactions (nine cases, 8.3%), and failures to obtain informed consent (one case, 0.9%). The specialty of obstetrics and gynecology was more likely to be accepted in judgment. As the supreme status of law, Blood Donation Law plays an important role in the blood safety, which results in less HCV infection cases occurred after 1998. Though the 2002 and 2010's rules give opposite liability principle, the fault liability and no-fault liability, the statistics shows that rules do not have an effect on different liabilities in judicial practice. The current study concludes that the risk of serious adverse transfusion reactions may be significantly increased by unnecessary transfusions.