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Infected NHS blood inquiry opens with tribute to victims Infected blood victims may not yet have been told why they feel ill, inquiry hears
(about 1 hour later)
The inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal in the NHS, which is estimated to have killed more than 2,000 people since the 1970s, has opened in London with a commemoration of its victims. Thousands of victims of the contaminated blood scandal may not yet have been told the reasons why they are feeling unwell, the chair of the inquiry has said.Formally opening the infected blood inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff said that many people may not have been diagnosed as suffering from hepatitis C, which they acquired through blood transfusions they received when they were younger.“It is a truly sobering thought,” he said, “that if some claims are well-founded – and it will be for this inquiry to find out if they are – there may yet be many thousands more who do not feel well but have not yet been told that the reason for this is that their life is threatened by hepatitis C. [It is] a sobering thought that the consequences what was done then may be continuing to cause death even now.”
The infected blood inquiry will investigate how so many people with haemophilia and other conditions were given blood plasma from the US carrying HIV and hepatitis C viruses. Some products were made from blood donated by prisoners and drug addicts who were paid. The inquiry will investigate how so many people with haemophilia and other conditions were given blood plasma from the US carrying HIV and hepatitis C viruses. Some products were made from blood donated by prisoners and drug addicts who were paid.
For decades, many of the families did not talk openly about the deaths because they felt there was limited public sympathy for Aids victims. Some disguised the reasons for fatalities. More than 25,000 people may have been affected by the scandal, Langstaff said. Accurate figures have yet to be established but he pledged to put those affected at the heart of the inquiry. The principle he said would be to give proper respect for “a person’s entitlement to be heard”.Some of the inquiry’s hearings will held outside London – in Edinburgh, Belfast and probably Leeds – to encourage as many people to give evidence. Langstaff said he was determined that the inquiry would be properly funded so that it could be as “legally open and transparent as possible”.The inquiry would do its best to obtain documents that may not yet have been seen. It would “hold people to account where appropriate” he said, “to express its views at the end without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.”
Theresa May announced the inquiry in July 2017 but its opening session only begins on Monday. During a commemoration event to mark the opening of the inquiry, a choir sang as those infected and affected by the blood scandal lined up to place glass phials carrying messages about those they have lost on medical-style laboratory racks in front of the stage.
The commemoration opened with a video sequence of pictures of the victims and their families accompanied by Emeli Sandé’s song Read All About It (Part III) which contains the lines: “You’ve spent a lifetime stuck in silence … So put it in all of the the papers, I’m not afraid / They can read all about it, read all about it.”In a statement read out to the inquiry at Church House, in Westminster, the audience was told that nearly 3,000 people have died and that the number keeps rising. Half of the people with haemophilia who were infected have now died. Young women looking forward to family lives, the statement said, were unknowingly infected by their husbands. Theresa May announced the inquiry in July 2017.
Medical records have gone missing and government documents were destroyed, those gathered for the inquiry were told. Financial support to enable sufferers to live with dignity has been denied, it was said. The commemoration opened with a video sequence of pictures of the victims and their families accompanied by Emeli Sandé’s song Read All About It (Part III) which contains the lines: “You’ve spent a lifetime stuck in silence … So put it in all of the the papers, I’m not afraid / They can read all about it, read all about it.”In a statement read out to the inquiry at Church House in Westminster, the audience was told that nearly 3,000 people had died and that the number kept rising. Half of the people with haemophilia who were infected have now died. Young women looking forward to family lives, the statement said, were unknowingly infected by their husbands.
Medical records had gone missing and government documents were destroyed, those gathered for the inquiry were told. Financial support to enable sufferers to live with dignity had been denied, it was said.
A succession of unnamed victims then recounted in short prerecorded statements how they and their loved ones had contracted HIV, hepatitis C and other potentially fatal viruses from blood and plasma transfusions, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s.One woman said: “Every time I shut my eyes I was looking at a coffin. I was sure I was going to die.” Another victim said: “It wrecked my marriage. It had a serious impact on my career.” A man said: “I was told I had two or three years to live: ‘Go away and make your will.’ Every day I have to take a toxic combination of pills just to stay alive. I lost my my job, I nearly lost my wife and we have had to live on the breadline.”A succession of unnamed victims then recounted in short prerecorded statements how they and their loved ones had contracted HIV, hepatitis C and other potentially fatal viruses from blood and plasma transfusions, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s.One woman said: “Every time I shut my eyes I was looking at a coffin. I was sure I was going to die.” Another victim said: “It wrecked my marriage. It had a serious impact on my career.” A man said: “I was told I had two or three years to live: ‘Go away and make your will.’ Every day I have to take a toxic combination of pills just to stay alive. I lost my my job, I nearly lost my wife and we have had to live on the breadline.”
The first evidence-taking sessions are scheduled to begin after Easter 2019. Before Monday’s hearing, the chair of the inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, a former high court judge, said: “Many of the people infected and their families have campaigned for the inquiry for many years. They helped to shape the inquiry’s terms of reference. This is now their opportunity to tell me where they want the inquiry to focus its investigative powers. The first evidence-taking sessions are scheduled to begin after Easter 2019.
“The inquiry has already received over 100,000 documents and expects to acquire several times that number. There will also be many hundreds of witness statements. I am grateful for each and every contribution. There must, however, still be more who have knowledge, documents and their own accounts to add. I know that going over the past can be difficult but I encourage them to come forward.” Des Collins, a partner at the law firm Collins Solicitors, which represents more than 800 relatives and survivors, said:
Des Collins, a partner at the law firm Collins Solicitors, which represents more than 800 relatives and survivors, said: “Once the hearings start, and those selected as core participants start to give evidence, the thousands affected by this terrible scandal will begin the long process of understanding how and why they received infected treatments from the NHS, the details of the extensive cover-up that followed, and what the government proposes to do about it. “For those affected, their families and the campaign groups, this is a day few thought that they would ever see – and it is a testament to those who have campaigned so hard to make it a reality. The feeling among our many clients is that they felt that the government had washed its hands of them, but now those responsible – both in government and at pharmaceutical companies – will be held to account. For so many people, whether affected or mourning those who have died owing to contaminated blood treatments, this is critically important.”
“For those affected, their families and the campaign groups, this is a day few thought that they would ever see – and it is a testament to those who have campaigned so hard to make it a reality. The feeling among our many clients is that they felt that the government had washed its hands of them, but now those responsible – both in government and at pharmaceutical companies – will be held to account. For so many people whether affected or mourning those who have died owing to contaminated blood treatments, this is critically important.” The law firm Leigh Day is representing more than 240 people as core participants who have been affected by the contaminated blood, both those given the blood through routine transfusion such as following an accident, complications during childbirth or routine dental treatment, and people with haemophilia who were given infected blood products..
The law firm Leigh Day is representing more than 240 people as core participants who have been affected by the contaminated blood, both those given the blood through routine transfusion such as following an accident, complications during childbirth or routine dental treatment, and people with haemophilia who were given infected blood products. . Contaminated blood scandal
The Department of Health has previously said that as many as 30,000 people may have been exposed to blood infections.
HealthHealth
Aids and HIVAids and HIV
Hepatitis CHepatitis C
NHSNHS
Contaminated blood scandal
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