The procurement, processing, storage, distribution, administration, or use of whole blood, plasma, blood products and blood derivatives for the purpose of injecting or transfusing the same, or any of them, or of tissues, organs, or bones for the purpose of transplanting them, or any of them, into the human body is declared to be, for all purposes whatsoever, the rendition of a service by each and every person, firm, or corporation participating therein, and is declared not to be covered by any implied warranty under the Uniform Commercial Code, Title 62A RCW, or otherwise, and no civil liability shall be incurred as a result of any of such acts, except in the case of wilful or negligent conduct: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That this section shall apply only to liability alleged in the contraction of hepatitis, malaria, and acquired immune deficiency disease [immunodeficiency syndrome] and shall not apply to any transaction in which the donor receives compensation: PROVIDED FURTHER, That this section shall only apply where the person, firm or corporation rendering the above service shall have maintained records of donor suitability and donor identification: PROVIDED FURTHER, That nothing in this section shall be considered by the courts in determining or applying the law to any blood transfusion occurring before June 10, 1971 and the court shall decide such case as though this section had not been passed.
RCW 70.54.120
Immunity from implied warranties and civil liability relating to blood, blood products, tissues, organs, or bones—Scope—Effective date.
Applied in 10 court decisions — leading case 117 Wash. 2d 772 - John Doe v. Puget Sound Blood Center (1991)
Most recently applied in Am. Nat. Red Cross v. Asd Spec. Healthcare (March 2004)
1987 c 84 s 1; 1985 c 321 s 1; 1971 c 56 s 1.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.