LONDON: British officials and the country's public health service knowingly exposed thousands of patients to deadly infections through contaminated blood and blood products, and hid the truth about the disaster for decades, a UK investigation has found. infected blood scandal Found on Monday.
It is believed that an estimated 3,000 people in the United Kingdom died and many more suffered lifelong diseases due to receiving contaminated blood or blood products. hiv Or hepatitis From the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
Scandal It was the deadliest disaster in the history of Britain's government-run National Health Service since its establishment in 1948.
Former judge Brian Langstaff, who chaired the inquiry, repeatedly rebuked governments and medical professionals for a “list of failures” and refused to accept responsibility to save his image and expenses. They found that there were deliberate efforts to conceal the scam, and there was evidence of documents being destroyed by government officials.
“This disaster was no accident. Infections happened because those in power – doctors, blood services and successive governments – did not put patient safety first,” he said. “The reaction of those in power further increased the suffering of the people.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized to the victims and said the publication of the report was “a day of shame for the British state”.
Campaigners have struggled for decades to highlight official failings and secure government compensation. The investigation was finally approved in 2017, and over the past four years, it reviewed evidence from more than 5,000 witnesses and more than 100,000 documents.
Many of the people affected were hemophilia, a condition that affects the ability of the blood to clot. In the 1970s, patients were given a new treatment that Britain imported from the United States. some of the plasma High-risk donors used to make blood products were detected, including prison inmates who were paid to give blood samples.
Because the treatment's makers mix plasma obtained from thousands of donations, one infected donor would compromise the entire batch.
The report said about 1,250 people with bleeding disorders, including 380 children, were infected with HIV-contaminated blood products. Three-fourths of them have died. Another 5,000 people who received the blood product developed chronic hepatitis C, a type of liver disease. Infection,
Meanwhile, an estimated 26,800 other people also became infected with hepatitis C after receiving blood transfusions, which are often given in hospitals after childbirth, surgery or an accident, the report said.
“I am truly sorry,” Sunak told a packed and silent House of Commons. “Today's report reveals decades of ethical failure at the heart of our national life. At every level, from the National Health Service to the civil service to ministers in successive governments, the people and institutions in which we placed our trust , they failed in the most painful and devastating way.”
He vowed to “right this historic wrong” and said details of a compensation package totaling 10 billion pounds ($12.7 billion) would be announced on Tuesday.
The report said many deaths and illnesses could have been avoided if the government had taken steps to address the risks associated with blood transfusions or the use of blood products. The investigation states that it has been known since the 1940s and early 1980s that the disease that causes hepatitis and AIDS, respectively, can be spread in this way.
Langstaff said that, unlike a long list of developed countries, officials in the UK failed to ensure rigorous blood donor selection and screening of blood products. At a school attended by children with hemophilia, public health officials gave the children “multiple, risky” treatments as part of the research, the report said.
He further said that over the past few years officials have “added to the suffering by refusing to admit that wrong has been done,” falsely telling patients that they received the best available treatment and requiring blood tests to be started as soon as possible. Has been done. When people were found infected, officials were slow to tell them what happened.
Langstaff said that although each failure was serious on its own, “taken together they are a disaster.”
Andy Evans of the campaign group Tainted Blood told reporters that he and others “felt like we had been shouting into the wind for the last 40 years.”
“We have been burning gas for generations. This report puts an end to that today. It also looks to the future and says this cannot continue,” he said.
Lawmaker Diana Johnson, who has long campaigned for the victims, said she hoped those found responsible for the disaster would face justice, including prosecution, because the investigation has taken so long that some of the key players may die.
“There needs to be accountability for actions that were taken, even if it was 30, 40, 50 years ago,” he said.
It is believed that an estimated 3,000 people in the United Kingdom died and many more suffered lifelong diseases due to receiving contaminated blood or blood products. hiv Or hepatitis From the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
Scandal It was the deadliest disaster in the history of Britain's government-run National Health Service since its establishment in 1948.
Former judge Brian Langstaff, who chaired the inquiry, repeatedly rebuked governments and medical professionals for a “list of failures” and refused to accept responsibility to save his image and expenses. They found that there were deliberate efforts to conceal the scam, and there was evidence of documents being destroyed by government officials.
“This disaster was no accident. Infections happened because those in power – doctors, blood services and successive governments – did not put patient safety first,” he said. “The reaction of those in power further increased the suffering of the people.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized to the victims and said the publication of the report was “a day of shame for the British state”.
Campaigners have struggled for decades to highlight official failings and secure government compensation. The investigation was finally approved in 2017, and over the past four years, it reviewed evidence from more than 5,000 witnesses and more than 100,000 documents.
Many of the people affected were hemophilia, a condition that affects the ability of the blood to clot. In the 1970s, patients were given a new treatment that Britain imported from the United States. some of the plasma High-risk donors used to make blood products were detected, including prison inmates who were paid to give blood samples.
Because the treatment's makers mix plasma obtained from thousands of donations, one infected donor would compromise the entire batch.
The report said about 1,250 people with bleeding disorders, including 380 children, were infected with HIV-contaminated blood products. Three-fourths of them have died. Another 5,000 people who received the blood product developed chronic hepatitis C, a type of liver disease. Infection,
Meanwhile, an estimated 26,800 other people also became infected with hepatitis C after receiving blood transfusions, which are often given in hospitals after childbirth, surgery or an accident, the report said.
“I am truly sorry,” Sunak told a packed and silent House of Commons. “Today's report reveals decades of ethical failure at the heart of our national life. At every level, from the National Health Service to the civil service to ministers in successive governments, the people and institutions in which we placed our trust , they failed in the most painful and devastating way.”
He vowed to “right this historic wrong” and said details of a compensation package totaling 10 billion pounds ($12.7 billion) would be announced on Tuesday.
The report said many deaths and illnesses could have been avoided if the government had taken steps to address the risks associated with blood transfusions or the use of blood products. The investigation states that it has been known since the 1940s and early 1980s that the disease that causes hepatitis and AIDS, respectively, can be spread in this way.
Langstaff said that, unlike a long list of developed countries, officials in the UK failed to ensure rigorous blood donor selection and screening of blood products. At a school attended by children with hemophilia, public health officials gave the children “multiple, risky” treatments as part of the research, the report said.
He further said that over the past few years officials have “added to the suffering by refusing to admit that wrong has been done,” falsely telling patients that they received the best available treatment and requiring blood tests to be started as soon as possible. Has been done. When people were found infected, officials were slow to tell them what happened.
Langstaff said that although each failure was serious on its own, “taken together they are a disaster.”
Andy Evans of the campaign group Tainted Blood told reporters that he and others “felt like we had been shouting into the wind for the last 40 years.”
“We have been burning gas for generations. This report puts an end to that today. It also looks to the future and says this cannot continue,” he said.
Lawmaker Diana Johnson, who has long campaigned for the victims, said she hoped those found responsible for the disaster would face justice, including prosecution, because the investigation has taken so long that some of the key players may die.
“There needs to be accountability for actions that were taken, even if it was 30, 40, 50 years ago,” he said.