Health Management Associates Scandal
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The Health Management Associates (HMA) Scandal refers the sale of tainted blood from HMA (an American company) to Canadian blood banks.
HMA was contracted to provide health care to prisoners in the state of Arkansas in the early to mid 1980's, while Bill Clinton (future U.S. President) was Governor. This arrangment allowed HMA to collect blood from the prisoners. The blood, some of it proven to be HIV and hepatitis C tainted, was found in the Canadian blood supply. It was not found in American supplies because of a ban on prisoner blood use.
The president of HMA at that time was Leonard Dunn, a close friend of Bill Clinton and Vincent Foster. He also chaired Clinton's reelection campaign and was appointed by Clinton to the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission.
In 1993, a Canadian Commons Committee released a request for a public inquiry into HMA's actions in the 1980's. Vincent Foster committed suicide two months later. Conspiracy theorists have tried to link his death to HMA and the Whitewater Scandal to prove he was murdered.
The Krever Report
Justice Horace Krever led a public inquiry in 1993 which uncovered the Arkansas prison blood scheme, as he reported in 1997.The primary purpose of the report was to work on ways of improving the Canadian blood system to avoid similar problems in the future. Also, the report makes mention of similar problems with prisoner blood collection practices in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi, as well as concerns about blood in general from San Fransisco.
Bill Clinton
Template:NPOV-section Because he later became President, there have been many attempts to link Clinton to the HMA scandal. As Governor of Arkansas, Clinton signed the contract with HMA for prisoner's healthcare, but there is no concrete evidence to implicate Clinton in any wrongdoing in the HMA scandal.
Clinton is not implicated in the Krever Report, as some news articles and websites claim. As mentioned above, the report was written to find ways to improve the Canadian blood supply, not find criminal fault in any person or group.
The Governor's records are often mentioned with the claim that they hold secrets about Clinton's association with HMA. The Governor's records were taken by Clinton as personal property when he left office and have not been made public. It is only speculation that they contain anything related to HMA.
External links
- Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada (aka The Krever Report) (http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/200/301/hcan-scan/commission_blood_final_rep-e/index.html)
- Tainted Blood from Arkansas (http://prorev.com/blood.htm)
- Clinton Pals Tied to Blood (http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a36503f9c5104.htm)
- Clinton Blood Scandal (http://www.conservativeusa.org/blood.htm)