Two women, including 22-year-old Rodiyat Alabede, died after donating plasma at Grifols for-profit collection centres in Winnipeg , according to Health Canada documents. The documents detail that staff failed to terminate the procedure when the machine issued multiple alerts. Grifols sent a corrective memo to staff in December, but an inspection found workers were still unaware of the requirement.

Four alerts ignored: the machine warnings in Rodiyat Alabede's death

Health Canada documents obtained by Alabede's family show that the plasma collection machine issued four alerts duing her procedure. A fifth alert came immediately after she showed signs of an adverse reaction,according to the inspection reports. safe-blood advocate Katherine Lanteigne, acting as representative for the family, said in an email statement that the documents 'detail the failure of Grifols technicians to terminate her plasma collection when the machine instructed them to do so.' The alerts indicated the blood was not properly moving through the lines, a condition that should prompt immediate termination.

December's compliance report: staff unaware of safety rules

On Dec. 22, months after Alabede's death, Health Canada conducted a compliance verification inspection at the Grifols Taylor Avenue centre. The report found that staff were not aware of the requirement to terminate the procedure when specific alerts occur. This finding came despite a memo Grifols sent to all Canadian staff on Dec. 5—over a month after Alabede's death—instructing them to follow specific protocols when such alerts happen. As the source reports, the inspection revealed that training had not been effectively implemented across the centre.

The unnamed second victim: what Health Canada hasn't said

The source also mentions a second unnamed woman who died after giving plasma at a for-profit centre in Winnipeg. Unlike Alabede's case, the public has not been given details about her age, the date of death, or the specifics of her procedure. It remains unknown whether similar machine alerts occurred during her donation or whether Grifols staff followed protocol. The lack of transparency raises questions about whether Health Canada's investigation examined both cases with equal rigor. The family of the first victim is calling for a reopened investigation, but no public update has been provided on the second case.

Why Health Canada's 'no connection' finding is under challenge

In March, Health Canada concluded there was 'no connection found between her death and the donation process' regarding Alabede. The Manitoba chief medical examiner determined she died of cardiac arrhythmia due to dilated cardiomegaly—an enlarged heart. However, the family and Lanteigne argue that the machine alerts and the failure to terminate the procedure were contributing factors that the investigation did not properly weigh. The source notes that Health Canada did not respond to CBC's request for comment prior to publication, leaving the family's questions unresolved.

For-profit plasma in Canada: a regulatory gap exposed by two deaths

The deaths in Winnipeg come amid Canada's expanding for-profit plasma collection sector. Companies like Grifols operate under federal oversight, but safety standards for donor monitoring and staff training are under scrutiny. The case echoes earlier incidents in other provinces where adverse reactons were not promptly addressed. The central question for Canadian regulators is whether current inspection protocols catch training failures before they lead to fatalities. As the compliance report shows, an inspection after a death still found staff unaware of basic safety procedures—a gap that demands systemic review.