Between 1985 and 1992, more than one thousand patients contracted HIV and hepatitis C because of this Foundation
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The Government of Javier Milei, through the Ministry of Health of the Nation, in line with its policy of cutting public spending, decided not to renew the subsidy received by the controversial Fundación de la Hemofilia.
In this context, a serious controversy has been reignited involving this institution, which for decades has concentrated the care of patients with hereditary bleeding disorders such as hemophilia and von Willebrand disease.
Between 1985 and 1992, more than 1,000 patients with hemophilia contracted HIV and hepatitis C after being treated with contaminated clotting factors, supplied by the Fundación itself. Those products, mostly imported from the United States and Europe, were not properly treated to eliminate blood-borne viruses.
El ministro de Salud, Mario Lugones.
The Fundación continued using them even when safe procedures already existed, which led to the opening of a criminal case. Despite the scandal, the physician who presided over the Fundación, Pedro Pérez Bianco, continued in the position until he retired after 2010.
The oral trial only began in 2011 and concluded in 2020 with the acquittal of the defendants, such as Pedro Pérez Bianco and Miguel de Tezanos Pinto, as well as the attorney Enrique Grilli, who were exonerated on the grounds that there was no "criminal intent," although it was acknowledged that there was negligence. For many families, it was a ruling that left open wounds.
Of the more than one thousand people who contracted diseases during their treatments at the Fundación de la Hemofilia, the vast majority died. By 2020, only about 50 were still alive.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Gonzalo Giadone, had expressed his request for an exemplary sentence, seeking 14 and 15 years in prison for Pérez Bianco and Tezanos Pinto, whom he considered to have "high responsibility" in the events and accused of having acted with "intentional contagion."
