After author Elvis Slaughter's mother died, a series of eerie events gave him reason to doubt her doctors' diagnoses. He investigated and discovered that a recall of blood tainted with HIV, hepatitis and leukemia was delayed for years.
New Book Probes Tainted Blood Transfusion Cover-up
In the nonfiction book, "Ghosts of Hollandale," author Elvis Slaughter reveals his interpretations of research surrounding the death of his mother, who died in 1997 following a series of transfusions of what was later determined to be tainted blood. While the book attempts to link negligent practices regarding her transfusions, Slaughter reveals how medical, bureaucratic and informational delays voided recourse for victims in similar situations as the statute of limitations ran out. The author expresses his opinion regarding the motives for his mother's death and the blood recall announcement delay that affected thousands of tainted blood transfusion victims. According to Slaughter, they all had the same operandi.
Excerpt
Slaughter's mother had apparently been a victim of this massive cover-up involving physicians, blood suppliers and others. She and thousands of other victims received this tainted blood. These botched blood transfusions are linked to the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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Ghosts of Hollandale
Author: Elvis Slaughter
Reviewed by Gregg Reese
OW Contributor
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.- Leviticus 17:11
Blood, referenced by many as the river of life, was realized early on as essential to mankind’s sustainability, and in turn achieved symbolic significance in virtually every civilization and culture. The radical changes of the 20th Century were manifested within the intertwined disciplines of medicine, science and technology, as researchers made sweeping advances in the collection, storage, and transfusion of this life force and its byproducts.
In keeping with the accelerated shifts in most human activity, these developments grew from a health break through into a lucrative business opportunity. Unlike other commodities such as oil production or precious metals, blood distinguishes itself not only by virtue of the cultural and emotional baggage it carries with it (in it’s continuing tradition as a religious sacrament, for example), but because errors in its processing or handling can result in death. Even in these times of scientific wonders and profit obsessed corporations human life retains a measure of sanctity,especially within families.
When author Elvis Slaughter’s mother died, the circumstances surrounding her demise raised concerns about the care she’d received. An initial diagnosis for Wegener's granulomatosis, an illness that involves the inflammation of the blood vessels but rarely experienced among African Americans, a physician’s insistence on a blood transfusion, and a newspaper headline proclaiming a blood contamination scandal heightened his suspicions and set the ball in motion for a medical detective story. Along the way, he turned down a $10,000 settlement and validation of his suspicions when newspapers found that tens of thousands of patients including his mother had been potentially exposed to blood supplies corrupted with HIV, hepatitis, and other infectious materials. Slaughter’s extensive background in law enforcement and legal investigation, along with his retention of the spiritualist traditions of his Mississippi Delta boyhood motivated him to shift through a bureaucratic entanglement involving human error, negligence, cover ups, and corruption within several large hospitals, the private health care industry, and the state health system charged with the wellbeing of the citizens whose taxes support it.
Eventually, Slaughter committed to paper a non-fictional saga documenting his struggles to wrestle the truth in spite of indifferent attorneys, uncooperative hospital administrators, and a state wide health care probe resulting in the indictments of several high profile political figures and private industry executives. In the aftermath, the closure that Slaughter searched so long for continued to elude him as the involved parties refused to disclose the exact source of the HIV tainted blood that claimed his mother’s life. Despite all his diligence and hard work, the tragedy exposed in Ghosts of Hollandale has yet to be finished, with the author already at work on a sequel.
Even with the most up to date screening methods, cracks in the system continue to show up. Those most susceptible to blood contamination are those who suffer from Hemophilia and are vulnerable to bleeding to death because of their blood’s impaired ability to clot (which in turn increases the need of blood transfusions).
In this day of scientific advancement and state of the art hygienic safe guards, man’s fallibility continues to cast a formidable shadow over the multi-billion dollar health industry. Similar allegations have tainted the reputations of the ranks of the country’s elite, including claims from the 1980s of contaminated blood transported from Arkansas prisons into Canada under then Governor Bill Clinton’s watch (See SALON | Feb. 25, 1999, Dumping scandal: The Export of Bad Blood, by Suzi Parker). Locally, the Sunday edition of the L.A. Times (July 15, 2007) featured a front page follow up on the aftermath of the 1982 tragedy involving infants receiving HIV defiled blood transfusions at the world-renowned, “hospital to the stars,” Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, underscoring the reality that stories like the one affecting the Slaughter family are still very much a concern for anyone with the slightest possibility of utilizing the health care system.
Mr. Slaughter I think your book has one great characteristic. It has a purpose! I commend you on seeking the truth and not letting your mother's passing go without answers. Best wishes to you and your great book of enlightenment.
