Mrs Rambo Sues Red Cross for Taking First Blood

A Franklin blood donor, who blames her car crash on post-donation wooziness, is suing the Red Cross, alleging negligence in allowing her to leave too soon after giving blood.

Mae Rambo crashed into a tree about a mile away from a Red Cross bloodmobile. She claims that inattentive practitioners were negligent in allowing her to leave within five minutes of having her blood drawn.

The Red Cross counters that Rambo's blood donation went smoothly, that staffers advised her about what to do if she later felt faint, and that she was instructed to stay at the donation center for at least 10 minutes after giving blood.

The blood donation and the crash occurred Sept. 1, 2003, according to federal court documents.

Rambo contends in her lawsuit that the practitioners who took her blood were distracted:

''They engaged in continuous banter amongst themselves about the upcoming holiday weekend and what they would do during the respite and other matters of a personal nature,'' according to a case-management order that summarizes the status of Rambo's suit.

She got some cookies, a Sprite and a T-shirt. She says that she was told to go home no more than five minutes after her noneventful blood donation.

''The plaintiff left the blood-gathering station, walking into the hot afternoon,'' Rambo's attorney, Norman E. Solomon, wrote in court documents.

About a mile away, she blacked out without warning, Solomon continued.

''Her vehicle, now resultantly 'pilotless,' ran off the roadway and headlong into a tree.'' The car was demolished, and Rambo says she suffered serious injuries to her wrist and knee.

The Red Cross tells a different story:

She was screened before the donation. Her red-blood count was taken, as were her temperature, blood pressure, pulse and weight. Her donation lasted nine minutes.

''Following her donation, the plaintiff was instructed to proceed to the canteen for food and drink and asked to stay there for at least 10 minutes,'' reads the account of Thomas M. Donnell Jr., the Red Cross' attorney in the case. The defendants say there was a bed on the Red Cross bus in case she needed more time to recover.

No one saw any evidence of a bad reaction to the donation or symptoms of lightheadedness, ''and she stated that she felt okay when she departed,'' court records state. The Red Cross says that Rambo was given instructions about what to do if she started feeling faint.

''At some point within the hour after her donation, the plaintiff felt 'woozy' while driving. Rather than immediately pulling over, however, she continued on and at some point 'blacked out,' '' Donnell writes.

The crash was Rambo's fault, the Red Cross maintains.

The agency contends that it did everything it reasonably could to ensure that Rambo left feeling well and capable of driving safely.

The case has been set for trial in December 2005 before U.S. District Judge Robert Echols.

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