Worrying complacency...

[scarletnoir]

I see that former Prime Minister John Major has referred to the avoidable infection of many people with HIV as a result of using infected blood product factor 8 as "incredibly bad luck" and that "no amount of compensation you can give that can actually compensate for what had happened to them."

[scarletnoir]

That makes it sound as if you may as well pay nothing, as 'nothing can compensate...", or am I reading that wrong?

I'm disappointed. Major seemed like one of the saner PMs in recent history, but this does make me wonder...

[scarletnoir in reply to scarletnoir]

Full report here:

bbc.co.uk/news/health-61929986

[mrsjsmith in reply to scarletnoir]

Agreed I was very surprised at his choice of words, more befitting to some of the other ‘ foot in mouth ‘ Politicians.

Colette

[Newdawn Administrator]

His choice of words were ill chosen I’m afraid even if his intent was genuine. Bad luck is when you don’t win a raffle but this was an avoidable health catastrophe that’s had long, painful and expensive repercussions for affected people. Back in the day before the thankful introduction of anti retrovirals, I worked with people who had been infected with HIV. Some were haemophiliacs. It was an intensely painful time because we had little to offer but palliative care. The stigma was brutal and patients progressed to AIDS fairly rapidly. Thank goodness for the amazing treatments now available.

Newdawn

[AnneHill in reply to Newdawn]

Before I started Ibrutinib all the batches of immunoglobulin Id had needed to be tested. I had tested positive for hep C. It was a false positive thankfully.There is probably a political reason John Major worded things this way. Not admitting guilt.

[scarletnoir in reply to AnneHill]

I doubt that he had any direct responsibility for the decisions taken to use the product - he would not have been PM at the time, and wasn't ever in the Health Ministry AFAIK. He may have had responsibility for the apparent reluctance to pay compensation, but I'm not sure.

[Sepsur in reply to AnneHill]

I had the presence of Hep C antibodies that could have led to me not being eligible for flair trial - it was decided that I’d got these from an IVIG infusion

[AnneHill in reply to Sepsur]

They had to test all the batches of the ivig. I was just told I was ok. I hope you dont have problems. There are treatments now though. It is only recently that immunoglobulin can be made in the uk because of mad cows disease in the past.Anne uk

[scarletnoir in reply to Newdawn]

Indeed... I'm fairly sure that those who understood the issues warned against importing the product at the time (not 100% sure, though - I do recall the magazine Private Eye campaigning on behalf of victims, but not the exact details).

If Wikipedia is accurate, then:

A study published in 1986 showed that 76% of those who used commercial clotting-factor products became infected with HIV, as opposed to none of those who only used the previous treatment cryoprecipitate.[6]

No government, healthcare or pharmaceutical entity in the UK has admitted any liability in the scandal, and no damages or compensation have been paid to those infected or affected, although the government has provided some means-tested benefits to some of the surviving victims through a Trust.

[scarletnoir in reply to scarletnoir]

Exactly the same issue arose in France, but there the Health Minister at the time was charged with manslaughter and found guilty, and other political careers were badly damaged - from Wikipedia again:

France's infected blood scandal began in April 1991 when doctor and journalist Anne-Marie Casteret [fr] published an article in the weekly magazine the L'Événement du jeudi [fr] proving that the Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine [fr][citation needed] knowingly distributed blood products contaminated with HIV to haemophiliacs in 1984 and 1985,[1] causing a multi-national outbreak of HIV and hepatitis C.[2] It is estimated that 6000 to 10000 haemophiliacs were infected in the United States alone.[3] In France 4700 people were contaminated, over 300 died.[4] Other impacted countries include Canada, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, and the United Kingdom

and:

In 1999, the former socialist Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, former Social Affairs Minister Georgina Dufoix and former Health Minister Edmond Herve were charged with "manslaughter". The Cour de Justice de la République found Edmond Hervé guilty, and acquitted Fabius and Dufoix. Although Hervé was found guilty, he received no sentence.[9][10]

Dr M. Garretta, the director of National Blood Center (central national de transfusion sanguine), however, was sentenced a four year prison; and became known as the symbol of Blood Scandal among the French.

[Ghounds]

A disappointing comment from him and clumsily phrased.

[AnneHill in reply to Ghounds]

I dont think it was a mistake. Nobody admitted responsibility and he couldnt be honest about what happened without accusing someone. It would be an expensive compensation claim. Maybe he had his reasons for wording it that way. Its got people talking and looking at what really happened, Anne uk