Independent inquiry has condemned "procrastination" that led to thousands of patients being infected with HIV and Hepatitis C from contaminated blood.

Blood inquiry condemns 'procrastination' which led to thousands of patients being infected with HIV and Hepatitis C
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The inquiry, led by Labour Peer Lord Archer of Sandwell, said the infection of so many people was a "horrific human tragedy."

The authors of the report said they were "dismayed" at the time taken by the Government and scientific agencies to respond to the dangers of Hepatitis C and HIV infections.

The report noted there was "lethargic" progress towards national self-sufficiency in blood products in England and Wales, where it took 13 years compared to just five years in Ireland.

As a result the NHS bought blood from US suppliers who used what became known as "skid row" donors, such as prison inmates, who were more likely to have HIV and Hepatitis C.

The report said: "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that commercial interests took precedence over public health concerns."

It added: "Whether the lack of urgency over much of this period arose from over-hesitant scientific advice or from a sluggish response by Government is now difficult to assess."

Nearly 2,000 haemophiliacs have died as a result of exposure to the contaminated blood in what leading medical expert Lord Winston called "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS"."

Some doctors are doing tests for new variant CJD on blood samples of haemophiliac patients without the knowledge or permission of the patients.

Patients' fury over blood test 'betrayal' - Observer

Extract:

"Doctors were accused of gross betrayal last night after haemophiliac patients discovered that their blood samples were being tested for the human form of 'mad cow' disease without their knowledge.

They compared the move by one of Britain's leading NHS hospitals to the Alder Hey organ scandal, when samples were taken from the bodies of dead children without their parents' permission.

The secret blood testing for new variant CJD was discovered in the minutes of a meeting of America's Food and Drug Administration, which was attended last year by a leading member of Britain's National Institute for Biological Standards Control.

The minutes revealed that the British scientist told the FDA that haemophiliac blood samples taken from the Royal Free Hospital in London would be 'provided for variant CJD analysis'. He described the samples as 'a bit of serendipity' that could provide 'icing on the cake' for testing the development of an effective blood test for the disease.

Last night testing was criticised by Professor Christine Lee, until recently the head of the Royal Free's haemophilia unit, who said that passing on blood samples without patients' knowledge or consent raised serious ethical issues - particularly in the wake of controversies like the Alder Hey organ scandal.

'You can't go around just grabbing stored samples,' she said."


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Lord Winston considers this imported blood products scandal "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".

Officials 'knew of Aids risk' in US blood imports - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Government advisers were aware that patients were in danger of contracting Aids from imported blood products as early as 1983 but decided against a ban due to fears of causing a shortage of supply.

The Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) knew that "patients who repeatedly receive blood clotting-factor concentrates appear to be at risk" of Aids.

It was also aware that the risks were highest if the blood products came "from the blood of homosexual and IV drug users in areas of high incidence - e.g. New York and California" and for those who repeatedly received high doses of the blood plasma products.

A possible link between Aids and blood transfusions was known about in December 1982, but it took another four years before safer, heat-treated products reached Britain. However, the CSM still ruled that the risk of contracting Aids had to be balanced against their "life-saving" benefits."

"Yesterday at the resumption of an inquiry into what the Labour peer, Lord Winston, has described as "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS", victims and their relatives gave emotional accounts about living with HIV and/or hepatitis C.

Stephen Martin-Hanley, 37, who also has haemophilia, told the hearing that he felt the stress of him having HIV and hepatitis C status had killed his father. He said he was 13 years old when he was told he had been given HIV-contaminated treatment.

Reading a statement from his mother, after she became too emotional to read it herself, he said it was likely that his father, who administered his treatment, had given him the "fatal injection"."

Sue Threakall, whose husband Bob died aged 47 in 1991, has accused the government of ignoring warnings, and doctors of ignoring the Hippocratic oath.

Widow accuses doctors over donor blood risks - Guardian

Extract:

"The widow of a haemophiliac who contracted HIV through contaminated blood products given on the NHS has accused the government of ignoring warnings, leaving 5,000 people to be infected in a "wholly avoidable tragedy".

Sue Threakall, whose husband Bob died aged 47 in 1991, also accused doctors of ignoring the Hippocratic oath by treating patients without telling them of the risk of infection from HIV or hepatitis C.

She said doctors also failed to tell patients when they were being tested for HIV, and to tell them immediately if they tested positive. Her husband was not told for six months, despite doctors knowing the couple were having unprotected sex. Mrs Threakall said: "Warnings were ignored, lessons were not learned and our community was lied to by the people it should have trusted most."

Mrs Threakall, 54, a teacher from Barnstaple, Devon, was speaking on the first day of an independent public inquiry into the supply of contaminated blood plasma to haemophiliacs by the NHS in the 1970s and early 1980s."

A little more about the haemophilia sufferers being given unsafe blood products.

Tests of clotting agent 'led to 2,000 deaths' - This is the Independent's take on the haemophilia sufferers being given unsafe blood products.

Extract:

"Some 2,000 haemophiliacs died after British doctors tested new blood products on them, having ignored safety warnings for the sake of "scientific kudos," it has been claimed."

Susan Watts' Newsnight report about blood safety warnings ignored by health professionals administering blood products to haemophiliacs in the 70s/80s

I watched BBC2's Newsnight report, compellingly presented by Susan Watts last night. She had interviewed some of the people involved in this tragedy. If the effect on other viewers was similar to the effect on me, then there will be many people feeling outraged at the appalling risks that health professionals knowingly and avoidably took with the lives and health of haemophilia sufferers and with the happiness and wellbeing of their families. This is a national scandal of monumental proportions, but has been subjected to years of the standard lies/cover-up/evasion that routinely feature in cases of medical negligence and bureaucratic/governmental dereliction of duty. - If the perpetrators and others associated with these horrifying events are still alive, I hope that the inquiry will be able to nail them and that, late in the day as it is, they will suffer condign punishment. And I hope that the government will give generously from taxpayers' money to the innocent victims and the family members who are still alive.

I URGE YOU TO READ THE REPORT. - Here is an extract from it:

"Evidence UK scientists ignored warnings that could have prevented people with haemophilia being given contamined blood has been seen by the BBC.

The Newsnight programme has seen documents suggesting experts were aware of the threat at an early stage, but transfusions were not stopped.

In the 1970s and 1980s, 4,500 UK haemophilia patients were exposed to lethal viruses in blood products.

Two thousand have since died of either Hepatitis C or HIV.

Successive governments have resisted attempts to hold a full inquiry. As a result campaigners have organised a private inquiry which will hold its first hearing on Wednesday. It is generally accepted that many people with haemophilia became infected from supplies of the clotting agent Factor 8 from abroad. "

As I write, there is also a video recording of the programme on the BBC website.

Independent inquiry into the deaths of nearly 2,000 haemophilia patients after exposure to contaminated blood and blood products

Inquiry opens into blood contamination deaths - Guardian

Extracts:

"An independent inquiry began today into the deaths of nearly 2,000 haemophilia patients exposed to HIV and/or hepatitis C through contaminated blood and blood products, described as the worst treatment catastrophe in NHS history."

"The campaign on the patients' behalf has been led by Labour peer Lord Alf Morris, who was Britain's first minister for disabled people and is the president of the all-party parliamentary group on haemophilia.

He said that, of the 4,670 haemophiliac patients exposed to hepatitis C, 1,243 were also exposed to HIV and despite improvements in treatment for both viruses, only 2,552 patients with hepatitis C and just 361 with HIV are still alive."