(ANSA) - Italy has opened a probe after a gay blood donor was turned away from a Milan hospital.
Health Minister Francesco Storace called the case "unacceptable" and said his probe could lead to legal action. The case sparked a storm on Saturday after Rome daily La Repubblica ran an interview with the would-be donor.
Milan's Policlinico hospital said it couldn't take the blood because young gay males posed a high risk of having AIDS, Paolo Pedone was quoted as saying. Pedone, 39, is a staffer at the Italian magazine Pride. Italian gay-rights association Arcigay urged authorities to "immediately establish responsibility for this illegal practice."
The head of the hospital's transfusion unit issued a statement saying the unit had "a fundamental duty to protect patients." "It has always taken decisions according to strict precautionary criteria," he said.
