27.09.17
Victims of contaminated blood scandal allowed to sue the NHS
More than 500 victims of the widely reported NHS contaminated blood scandal have been given permission to sue the government for damages as part of a major ruling.
A High Court official has said that it is appropriate for the victims to seek compensation despite attempts by the Department of Health to delay claims, arguing that the decision was “premature” due to a public inquiry pending.
A report claims that over 30,000 people may have been infected with hepatitis C in the 1970s and 80s – although only just under 3,000 people have been identified – and a further 1,500 were infected with HIV, as a result of receiving contaminated blood products as part of their treatment for conditions such as haemophilia.
Treatment for the condition is to give clotting factors, which are made from donated blood – some of which was imported from overseas and came from donors such as US prison inmates who sold their blood to meet the increasing demand.
Around 2,400 people have died as a result of the tragedy.
In July this year an inquiry was promised by Theresa May and health secretary Jeremy Hunt to investigate the failures that led to the scandal, with the prime minister calling it “an appalling tragedy which should simply never have happened.”
But campaigners criticised the involvement of the Department of Health in any inquiry, citing a history of cover-ups around the case, and consequently a lack of trust, as major concerns.
A spokesperson for the Haemophilia Society said: “There can be no progress on setting up an inquiry and deciding its remit until all parties agree that it must be an independent statutory inquiry and that the Department for Health will not be involved in deciding the remit.”
The court was told of the moving stories of those affected by the scandal. Steven Snowden, QC for the claimants, told the court that documents which may have helped victims and their families in earlier cases had been withheld from them until recently.
Factor 8 Campaign UK has welcomed the decision, with a spokesperson adding: “Today marks a significant step forward toward full truth & justice for those so badly affected by one of the deadliest medicinal products in modern history.”
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