A judge has sentenced a man to 2 years in prison for concealing that he was HIV-positive when he gave blood to a Hammond plasma center.
Michael Ivy, 46, of East Chicago pleaded guilty to selling blood contaminated with HIV in September last year to Bio-Blood Component Inc.
Lake County Criminal Court Judge Robert Lewis on Friday ordered Ivy to serve a two-year sentence in a state prison and imposed a one-year probation on him.
When giving blood products to Bio-Blood last summer, Ivy checked the “no” box on a questionnaire that asked if he was HIV-positive. Court records show he gave blood three times in September before Bio-Blood tested a specimen and found it HIV-positive. State law requires contaminated blood to be destroyed.
Court records did not indicate whether or not, Ivy received money for donating his blood to the clinic.
Ivy admitted he had been diagnosed with HIV in August 2002. A doctor at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago confirmed the diagnosis in November 2002 and told Ivy he could never again give blood, plasma or tissue.
According to a study — there is a 90% risk of HIV transmission through infected blood products which is higher than the risk from any other transmission means.
