Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1983. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - July 15, 1983
Ronald Sullivan
"We have asked hospitals to forgo all surgery requiring O negative that is not an emergency," said the director, Dr. Johanna Pindyck. If the blood shortage persists, she said, the 262 hospitals served by the program will be requested to ration other types for emergency cases.
According to Dr. Pindyck, there has been a sharp drop in donations in the last six weeks, apparently because of a fear among potential donors of contracting acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, a disorder that destroys the body's immune defenses. 'Seems to Be Getting Worse'
She said the shortage, of more than 10 percent, showed no signs of abating. "If anything," she said, "the problem seems to be getting worse."
According to Thomas D. Ricke, vice president of public affairs of the City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the Bellevue Hospital Center canceled all elective surgery requiring type O positive blood because of a shortage of that type. He said the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center and North Central Bronx Hospital were experiencing "significant shortages."
The most critical shortage, Dr. Pindyck said, was of type O negative, which normally represents 10 percent of the 2,200 pints of blood collected daily and distributed by the nonprofit blood program in cooperation with the American Red Cross to hospitals in New York City, Long Island, the lower Hudson Valley and northern New Jersey.
Dr. Pindyck said that her program had less than 200 units of type O negative on reserve yesterday, hundreds of units short of its need. O positive and negative are sent to accidents or disasters because, once the Rh factor is accounted for, the two types can generally be given to anyone. A shortage of O negative is particularly threatening to any woman with that type at or below childbearing age, because a transfusion of an opposite type could induce a deadly factor in a child born to her.
Health officials are trying to assure potential donors there is no risk of acquiring AIDS by giving blood. They say needles used to draw blood are used once and destroyed.
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