Canada faces calls for investigation into death of woman after plasma donation

A young woman died of cardiac arrest shortly after donating blood plasma at a facility operated by Grifols in October 2025. Patient advocates in Canada called for a new investigation, alleging a pattern of lax safety protocols and poorly trained staff at plasma donation sites. An initial Health Canada investigation found no link between the donation and the death. Campaigners later alleged medical discrepancies between an autopsy completed within two days and a medical summary dated 27 March, and accused Health Canada of covering up details. Advocates cited inspection reports showing deficiencies including poor staff training, failures in standard operating procedures, poor record keeping, and Grifols not remedying past issues, including allowing multiple retakes of safety quizzes.

"Rodiyat Alabede, an international student at the University of Winnipeg, died of cardiac arrest shortly after a plasma donation in October 2025 at a facility operated by the Spanish healthcare company Grifols. An initial investigation by Health Canada found no links between the plasma donation and her death. But on Wednesday, campaigners alleged that significant medical discrepancies had been uncovered between her autopsy, completed within two days of her death, and the medical summary drafted by Health Canada, dated 27 March. They accused the federal body of covering up details of her death."

"Kat Lanteigne, a safe blood campaigner who represents Alabede's family, said that Alabede's autopsy revealed she had a cardiomegaly, or enlarged heart. That condition would have put a major strain on her body while she was donating. We don't know whether they screened her properly. We don't know whether they responded to her donation process properly, said Lanteigne, citing damning inspection reports by Health Canada immediately following Alabede's death."

"The inspection reports, viewed by the Guardian, found numerous deficiencies, including poor training for staff, failures in standard operating procedures, poor record keeping and a failure by Grifols to remedy past issues. In some cases, staff were allowed up to four retakes of a failed quiz, testing their knowledge of operating procedures and safe use of machines, before"

"They had staff taking plasma from donors who did not know how to extract plasma in a safe manner. They did not know how to respond to the codes in the machine, which would instruct them to stop the process. The [failures] were so egregious that now we have more questions than answers."

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