Canadian Blood Services says donor death not linked to plasma donation a day earlier

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Health Canada could not be immediately reached for comment.

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All blood collection services in Canada, including Canadian Blood Services and private businesses, are required by law to report to Health Canada any time a donor dies within 72 hours of making a donation.

Plasma donations in Canada have faced intense scrutiny since March, when Health Canada confirmed it was investigating the deaths of two people in Winnipeg who donated plasma at collection centres run by Grifols, a Barcelona-based company that pays donors.

Health Canada has said those deaths occurred in October 2025 and January of this year.

The department’s investigation found no link between the deaths and the collection process, and Grifols said that at no point was the safety of donors and patients compromised.

Kat Lanteigne, former executive director of the now-defunct advocacy group BloodWatch, said all three deaths should be subjected to a scientific review.

“There is a knowledge gap that we have in Canada in understanding the deleterious impact that the plasma (donation) process can have,” Lanteigne said in an interview Wednesday.

“It doesn’t mean that it did (cause the death), but it’s important to rule it out because it informs regulatory policy in order to strengthen plasma donation rules …. The concern that I have as an advocate is not to assign blame, it’s how to improve the system to protect donors.”

BloodWatch was founded by survivors of Canada’s tainted blood scandal, as well as their relatives and advocates. In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of Canadians were infected with HIV and hepatitis C after receiving contaminated blood or blood products, prompting a public inquiry, criminal charges and an overhaul of the blood system that led to the creation of Canadian Blood Services.

Lanteigne is now a patient advocate for one of the people who died after donating plasma at a Grifols donation centre in Winnipeg.

“We have this big gap within our system that just simply needs to be fixed,” she said. “We need a better understanding so we can make sure that our regulations are strong.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2026.

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press