Canadian plasma clinics pause collections after deaths of two donors - The Guardian

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For a year and a half, event planner Ethan Gill has regularly donated plasma at a commercial donation centre near his home in Whitby, Ont., that was run by an international pharmaceutical company called Grifols. Plasma, a golden-coloured, protein-rich fluid found in blood, is used to produce life-saving medicines for patients with conditions such as a compromised immune system. Mr. Gill often went twice a week as one of the ways he gives back to his community, he said – and getting paid up to $70 each time, which he would not be at a Canadian Blood Services centre, was a perk, too. Open this photo in gallery:Open this photo in gallery:The Grifols plasma centre in Whitby, Ont., was open when The Globe visited this spring to learn about its screening and donation process. Shay Conroy/The Globe and MailOn a recent afternoon in August, he was hooked up to a plasmapheresis machine as normal, and donated nearly a litre of plasma. It would be the last donation he would make for the foreseeable future. Mr. Gill had no way to know it at the time, but behind the scenes, Grifols’s head office was dealing with an extraordinary situation.