LONDON —Victims of the United Kingdom’s tainted blood scandal could sue the Government after evidence emerged of a cover-up.
Documents suggest officials knew the blood products were harmful – yet continued to allow them to be given to patients.
Thousands of sufferers of the blood-clotting disorder haemophilia were given infected products on the NHS in the 1970s and 1980s.
The supply was contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C, having been donated by prisoners, drug addicts and prostitutes seeking cash.
More than 2000 patients died and many others have serious illnesses.
Documents uncovered by the son of one of the victims suggest that officials were aware the products were high-risk as early as 1983. Jason Evans, 27, whose father Jonathan died in 1993 after being given HIV-infected products, has spent the past year trawling freedom of information responses and official archives.
One of the most damning pieces of evidence is a memo of a meeting of senior officials at the Department of Health in July 1983. They agree there is a particularly high risk from products bought from New York and Los Angeles.
Last month former health secretary Andy Burnham called for a public inquiry. He said separate evidence had come to light suggesting doctors and public officials had been involved in a criminal cover-up.
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Notice this is not in the Australian press? In the New Zealand Herald, no less.
