Eighties blood risk

SIR – In February 1985 I gave birth to my first son at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London. I lost a lot of blood and was told I needed a transfusion.

My father, a GP, who was with me, told the hospital he had the same blood type and insisted I didn’t have a transfusion. He had read much new research indicating the dangers of infection from what we called Aids.

The hospital said a direct blood transfusion was against its policy. A pathologist came to see me to allay my fears and said there was absolutely no way I could be infected with Aids from a blood transfusion.

Several times a day pathologists, doctors and nurses came to persuade me to have the transfusion. I still refused and recovered slowly.

In December 1987 I was again in the same hospital giving birth. This time I had an autologous transfusion privately, as I had a bag of blood with me, just in case, which the hospital begrudgingly accepted. A few days later the newspaper I was reading in my hospital bed was full of news of a patient infected with HIV from a blood transfusion.

I cut out the report and asked someone to deliver it to a pathologist still working at the hospital, with a letter saying how glad I was I’d stood my ground. To her credit she came to my room and apologised.

London W3