“They exploited access to our tiny veins”.
Steve Nicholls
Introduction
Between 1970 and the early 1990s, an estimated 30,000 people in the UK were given contaminated blood. Tainted blood products that were imported from the USA led to those affected with haemophilia being infected with life-changing illnesses like HIV and Hepatitis C. This scandal is one of the biggest in British history, with paid blood donations taken from people in a high-risk bracket, such as drug addicts and prison inmates. They were mixed and imported from the USA to the UK. Unscreened blood entered the veins of both schoolchildren and adults. It is estimated that thousands of people have died as a result of this medical calamity, including Anita Roderick, the founder of the Body Shop. Given to people with blood clotting disorders, this was a misjudged, kneejerk to a shortage of blood clotting treatments in the NHS. Yet the medical profession played Russian Roulette by taking the risk as if just one sample was infected; the whole batch could be contaminated.
It wasn’t until 1991 that a screening programme was set up in laboratories to test for Hepatitis C. Only 18 months after it was detected in a laboratory. By this time, hundreds of children had been placed on clinical trials for new treatments without their parents’ consent. Yet, as late as 1983, medical professionals and the government towed the line that HIV couldn’t be transmitted in blood. A line continuously rolled out by the then-Conservative Health Secretary, Kenneth Clarke.
The Search for Justice
“The Inquiry will examine why men, women and children in the UK were given infected blood and infected blood products; the impact on their families; how the authorities (including the government) responded; the nature of any support provided following infection; questions of consent; and whether there was a cover-up”.
Purpose of the inquiry.
It wasn’t until the end of 1985 that all Factor VIII products were heat-treated to kill HIV, and in 2017, the government ordered an independent public statutory inquiry into this tragedy. The UK-wide infected blood inquiry finally came about after years of campaigning. Led by a former judge, Sir Brian Langstaff, the inquiry took evidence between 2019 and 2023, with a final report expected in the Autumn of 2023. However, Sir Brian said more time is needed to scrutinise and prepare a report of this gravity. It is estimated that a further 650 people have died since this inquiry was first announced.
No one can ever bring back the loved ones they have lost as a result of this medical catastrophe, but the truth can be exposed and compensation paid for the years these victims have had to suffer, especially those who have died. As long as the report of this inquiry remains unreleased, there will be no sense of partial closure. Although the government made an interim payment of £100,000 to each of the 4,000 victims in 2022, this goes nowhere near to helping those involved. This was a global crisis, but in the USA, France and Japan, the victims have been paid millions in out-of-court settlements with the companies involved. With the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, recently saying that there may be grounds for corporate manslaughter charges in the UK, the pressure is on this inquiry to produce results and for the government of the day to act on its recommendations. The clock is ticking, and for the victims, time is running out.
