{"id":682295,"date":"2026-05-20T16:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/682295\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T16:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:55:12","slug":"family-of-plasma-donor-who-died-calls-for-investigation-over-record-inconsistencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/682295\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of plasma donor who died calls for investigation over record inconsistencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Grifols, a Spanish pharmaceutical company, is the only major commercial collector of plasma in Canada and operates 17 sites across the country.Shannon VanRaes\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The family of a young woman who died after donating plasma in Winnipeg is calling for a new investigation into her death after finding inconsistencies between federal and provincial government reports and the woman\u2019s autopsy record. <\/p>\n

However, the office of Manitoba\u2019s chief medical examiner says it supports Health Canada\u2019s findings that the woman\u2019s death coincided with, but did not result from, her plasma donation.<\/p>\n

The woman, Rodiyat Alabede, was a 22-year-old University of Winnipeg student in her final year of studying social work when she died on Oct. 25, 2025.<\/p>\n

She had been selling plasma at a Grifols collection centre on Taylor Avenue in Winnipeg. Plasma is a golden-coloured, protein-rich fluid found in blood that is used to manufacture some types of medicine.<\/p>\n

Health Canada found multiple issues at Grifols\u2019 Winnipeg clinic after death, inspector report shows<\/a><\/p>\n

Grifols, a Spanish pharmaceutical company, is the only major commercial collector of plasma in Canada and operates 17 sites across the country as part of a deal signed with Canadian Blood Services in 2022. Grifols pays donors, while CBS does not.<\/p>\n

The deaths of Ms. Alabede and another donor at a different centre on Innovation Drive, who died in January and has not been identified, became public through media reports on March 11. On April 1, Health Canada imposed conditions on Grifols\u2019 licences after finding \u201crecurring, systemic deficiencies\u201d at the company\u2019s collection centres over multiple inspections. The conditions included limits on the number of donors and improved supervision of staff.<\/p>\n

Then on April 3, Health Canada announced it found \u201cno linkage\u201d between the circumstances of the deaths and the plasma donation process. Manitoba\u2019s office of the chief medical examiner, which looks into all sudden, unexpected or violent deaths in the province, investigated the deaths and said it \u201cdid not identify anything that was inconsistent\u201d with Health Canada\u2019s review.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Advocate and activist Kat Lanteigne is fighting for accountability on behalf of Alabede who died after donating plasma at a Grifols facility in Winnipeg.Galit Rodan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Kat Lanteigne, a public-health advocate who Ms. Alabede\u2019s family has asked to speak on their behalf, said recently obtained documents about Ms. Alabede\u2019s death show conflicting information that demands a full investigation.<\/p>\n

With the family\u2019s permission, The Globe and Mail has viewed a copy of the autopsy report written by a Winnipeg physician shortly after the young woman died. The family obtained the document from the chief medical examiner. (Ms. Alabede came to Canada for university after attending high school in Nigeria. She has a close family member who lives in Canada, who does not want to speak publicly.)<\/p>\n

Separately, The Globe has obtained a copy of a \u201cmedical summary\u201d of Ms. Alabede\u2019s death that was prepared by unnamed Health Canada personnel and sent to members of the House of Commons health committee in late April. Its contents have not been previously reported. The Globe has recently reported on a December letter written by a Health Canada inspector that followed a visit to the Grifols site in Winnipeg where Ms. Alabede donated.<\/p>\n

Donating plasma involves blood leaving a person\u2019s body, entering a machine that separates the fluid into red blood cells and plasma, and then the blood cells (with added saline) are inserted back into the donor several times over the course of a donation.<\/p>\n

The autopsy says Ms. Alabede became unresponsive 45 minutes into a plasma donation on Oct. 25. It says her heart rhythm deteriorated and then stopped.<\/p>\n

Conservatives demand more scrutiny of plasma sites after deaths of two donors<\/a><\/p>\n

The autopsy says efforts to revive her were unsuccessful. She was pronounced dead just 13 minutes after admission to hospital.<\/p>\n

The cause of death is listed as cardiac arrest. It notes she had cardiomegaly, or an enlarged heart. <\/p>\n

The Health Canada medical summary sent to MPs uses different language. It says the donor \u201ccollapsed\u201d during the plasma donation and was \u201cpronounced deceased later that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cause of death is redacted, but the summary says the autopsy concluded there was \u201cno evidence of a causal relationship to donation procedures, equipment or products.\u201d<\/p>\n

It concludes that the death was \u201ctemporarily coincident with plasma donation but not caused by donation activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The summary also says donor screening, equipment function, staff training and emergency response at Grifols\u2019 Taylor Avenue clinic \u201cwere all found to be compliant\u201d with applicable standard operating procedures.<\/p>\n

That does not align with the inspector\u2019s letter, written in December, that describes a visit to the clinic that found what it called multiple deficiencies in Grifols\u2019 operations, including concerns that staff were not well trained and did not always know what to do when machines displayed alarms.<\/p>\n

Canadians\u2019 plasma is now a liquid asset. Is that ethical?<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Lanteigne said the discrepancy between the reports shows the need for a panel of experts, including those with expertise in plasma donation and cardiology, to re-examine Ms. Alabede\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a combined effort to dismiss Rodiyat\u2019s death because she had a pre-existing heart condition, and attempts to muddy the waters to alleviate themselves from the incredible negligence of a plasma donation gone wrong,\u201d Ms. Lanteigne said.<\/p>\n

When asked about any inconsistencies between reports, Manitoba chief medical examiner John Younes said it was \u201cirresponsible\u201d to question the findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividuals with pathology of this nature may develop a fatal cardiac arrhythmia at any time \u2013 walking across the street, driving a motor vehicle, while lying in the dentist\u2019s chair, or even in their sleep,\u201d he said in an e-mail. <\/p>\n

He said he did not believe the plasma donation procedure would have caused undue stress on her body and she had only given a \u201crelatively small volume of plasma\u201d when her health problems began.<\/p>\n

Ms. Lanteigne said there was no evidence in the chief examiner\u2019s work that there was any attempt to investigate the way a plasma donation could trigger a cardiac arrest.<\/p>\n

Another inconsistency was the amount that Ms. Alabede had donated after 45 minutes. According to the autopsy, which was released by Dr. Younes\u2019 office, only 200 millilitres had been collected when the health problems began. However, the Health Canada summary said 586 mL of a planned 933 mL had been collected. <\/p>\n

Government probes into the deaths of two plasma donors found no link to Grifols\u2019 donation process<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Younes said he believed the 586 mL figure was the correct one, and that it was supplied by Grifols. He said he still considered that to be a small amount. He said he did not know why there was a discrepancy between the reports.<\/p>\n

Health Canada did not respond to questions by deadline.<\/p>\n

Grifols said it conducted an internal review of the death and also received a copy of the medical examiner\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

The company said there was no evidence of a machine malfunction or staff error that contributed to the death. \u201cAll assessments that were conducted show no direct link to the donation process,\u201d the company said in an unsigned statement.<\/p>\n

Ms. Lanteigne said Ms. Alabede\u2019s family had been contacting Grifols for more information, including to obtain her donation records, but had not been able to speak with anyone for weeks. <\/p>\n

Grifols said Tuesday afternoon they were aware someone contacted their donor centre but were \u201cunable to validate that this person was indeed family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Lanteigne said the company finally responded to Ms. Alabede\u2019s family late Tuesday to begin the process of accessing her records.<\/p>\n

Deaths from plasma donation are very rare. Health Canada has said it has records of three deaths that are connected to plasma donation in the past 10 years, including the ones in October and January, and all of the deaths occurred in Winnipeg. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Grifols, a Spanish pharmaceutical company, is the only major commercial collector of plasma…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,1008,22073],"class_list":["post-682295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-pleasemod","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}