Introduction

A class action has been filed by Vancouver resident, Margaret Birrell, against the B.C. Ear Bank on behalf of all persons who received transplant tissue or bone supplied by the Ear Bank. The class action lawsuit stems from the 2003 recall of all transplant tissue and bone supplied by the B.C. Ear Bank. An investigation by Health Canada revealed that the Ear Bank had sloppy record-keeping practices and did not maintain proper documentation to confirm that it had conducted appropriate screening of tissue donors or that sterilization of tissue took place. As a result, all unused tissue was recalled and patients who were the recipients of bones or tissues supplied by the B.C. Ear Bank were advised to get tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. At the time of the recall, the B.C. Minister of Health, Colin Hansen, issued a Ministerial Statement stating “This is not acceptable to me, to the Premier or to our government as a whole. And I know it is not acceptable to the people of British Columbia.”

The B.C. Ear Bank was located at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and was operated under the medical direction of the University of British Columbia’s Division of Otolaryngology. The B.C. Ear Bank had been in existence since 1974, first operating out of Vancouver General Hospital and then Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver. Responsibility for the Ear Bank was transferred to St. Paul’s Hospital in 1993, and it relocated to the St. Paul’s Hospital site in 1995. The lawsuit names as defendants the University of British Columbia, Providence Health Care Society which operates St. Paul’s Hospital, and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority which has responsibility for the Vancouver Hospital.

Margaret Birrell, the plaintiff in the class action lawsuit, had an ear operation at St. Paul’s Hospital in 1994 and received tissue supplied by the B.C. Ear Bank. In January 2005, she received a letter from her physician informing her of the documentation problems at the B.C. Ear Bank and advising her to undergo testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. Thousands of patients across North America are affected, as the B.C. Ear Bank supplied tissue and bone to 87 hospitals and physicians across Canada and in two cities in the United States.

The Klein Lyons Newsletter

By filling out this form you are agreeing to receive periodic electronic updates and e-newsletters. Your information will not be used for any other purposes.