Infected blood doctors accused of ‘cover-up’ amid compensation warnings

Doctors were warned that the mistreatment of people with haemophilia could lead to claims for compensation 45 years ago, a new book reveals, ahead of the Prime Minister facing questions next week on his plans to compensate victims.

Rishi Sunak will give evidence to the Infected Blood Inquiry on Wednesday after Sir Brian Langstaff, the chairman, took the unprecedented step of recalling hearings to address the Government’s sluggish response over compensation.

Number 10 has ignored Sir Brian’s recommendation of immediate payments of £100,000 to parents and children bereaved by infected blood, and to appoint a chairman to oversee full compensation.

New evidence to be published in The Poison Line in September reveals that in 1978, doctors knew that using people with haemophilia as research subjects could lead to allegations of negligence and compensation claims.

“Too close investigation of these patients might suggest to any who were found to have chronic [hepatitis] that they had been negligently treated originally and that a claim for compensation might be in order,” warned Dr William D’Auvergne Maycock, the head of the Blood Products Laboratory.

Dr John Craske, a leading virologist, ignored the warning and continued his use of unwitting patients to study the infectiousness of Factor VIII, a blood product that was sold as a ‘miracle treatment’ for haemophilia.

Dr Craske had known since 1974 that hepatitis could be transmitted through Factor VIII, but rather than caution doctors against its use, he conducted studies on patients.

By 1980, he noticed that half of patients had signs of chronic hepatitis and there was a “high risk” of patients contracting hepatitis C from Factor VIII and Factor IX. 

“It seems likely that some patients will develop severe chronic liver disease over the next 10 years,” he said.

The Poison Line reveals how the HIV infections of some 1,250 people with haemophilia in the UK could have been prevented if leading doctors had paid attention to the risk of hepatitis in Factor VIII.

The inquiry estimated that up to 6,250 people with bleeding disorders contracted hepatitis C from medical treatment, as well as some 26,800 from blood transfusions. By 2019, 2,900 people had died.

Jason Evans, the founder of the Factor 8 campaign group, said: “What’s really important about this is not just the planning and execution of these horrible experiments. It shows the cover-up in black and white.

“The cover-up isn’t just something that happened after the fact. The cover-up is something that was there at the beginning.”

The inquiry is examining whether the use of haemophilia patients for research without their knowledge was unethical, as part of its investigation into the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history.

In a letter to be sent to Number 10 on Monday, victims will urge Mr Sunak to immediately implement Sir Brian’s compensation recommendations.

“Many continue to die without seeing full redress,” the letter will say. “This cannot be right.”

Those who are still waiting for interim payments of £100,000 include the parents of 380 children who died after being infected with HIV by haemophilia treatment.

Mr Evans said: “We’re three months down the road with nothing. Pessimism has set in and people are starting to feel quite demotivated.”

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, and Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, are also due to give evidence. 

In a written statement to the inquiry, Ms Mordaunt said: “The quicker we address the wrongs that have occurred and provide proper, fair, uniform financial support to all those infected and affected the better.”

Collins Solicitors is threatening to reinstate its pending legal action against the Department of Health on behalf of 1,500 victims for misfeasance in public office, which was paused awaiting the outcome of the Inquiry later this year.

Des Collins, a senior partner at the law firm, said: “The innocent victims of this scandal are simply at their wit’s end. If ministers choose to continue to give platitudinous responses to the Inquiry, then victims and their families will look to the court to award compensation.”

In an interim report earlier this year, Sir Brian said that “wrongs were done at individual, collective and systemic levels” and that compensation was “necessary and urgent”.

Last October, the Government spent £4 million on interim payments of £100,000 to those infected with HIV and hepatitis C.

Before he became Prime Minister, Mr Sunak described the infected blood scandal as a “tragic injustice” and said the government “must now match words with action”.

The Poison Line by Cara McGoogan will be published on September 28 (Viking)