Brendan West, featured in a photo at his Farnborough home in England in 2024, became a victim of the infected blood scandal after losing his leg in 1979 and receiving a blood transfusion at a British Military Hospital in Germany.
Discovering he had contracted Hepatitis C decades later, when attempting to donate blood, he joined countless others affected by the scandal.
The recent inquiry into the UK’s infected blood scandal revealed deliberate exposure of tens of thousands of patients to deadly infections through contaminated blood and blood products, concealed by authorities for decades.
The scandal, spanning from the 1970s to the early 1990s, resulted in approximately 3,000 deaths and left many with lifelong illnesses, marking it as one of the deadliest in the history of Britain’s National Health Service.
Former judge Brian Langstaff, who spearheaded the inquiry, criticized successive governments and medical practitioners for their series of failures and attempts to shirk responsibility in order to preserve reputation and cut costs. He uncovered deliberate actions to conceal the scandal and evidence of government officials destroying documents.
Langstaff emphasized that the catastrophe was not accidental, attributing the infections to a lack of prioritization of patient safety by those in authority, including doctors, blood services, and successive governments. He noted that the response from those in power only exacerbated the suffering of the affected individuals.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed regret to the victims, describing the release of the report as a shameful day for the British government. Activists have long pushed for accountability and compensation from the authorities. The inquiry, authorized in 2017, examined evidence from over 5,000 witnesses and more than 100,000 documents.
Many of those affected were hemophiliacs who underwent a new treatment in the 1970s, imported from the US. Some of the blood products used contained plasma from high-risk donors, such as paid prison inmates. Mixing plasma from numerous donations meant that one infected donor could contaminate the entire supply.
The report revealed that approximately 1,250 individuals with bleeding disorders, including 380 children, were infected with HIV-contaminated blood products, with three-quarters of them having died. Up to 5,000 others who received these blood products contracted chronic hepatitis C. Moreover, an estimated 26,800 individuals were infected with hepatitis C through blood transfusions following childbirth, surgery, or accidents.
In a solemn speech to the House of Commons, Sunak expressed deep regret, acknowledging a profound moral failure spanning decades in the heart of the nation. The report underscored that numerous deaths and illnesses could have been prevented had the government addressed the risks associated with blood transfusions and blood products. Unlike other developed nations, UK officials neglected rigorous donor selection and product screening, even administering riskier treatments to children with hemophilia for research purposes. The authorities’ refusal to admit fault, delayed disclosure of infections, and false assurances compounded the suffering. Each failure, significant on its own, collectively amounted to a catastrophe.
Andy Evans of the campaign group Tainted Blood expressed relief, signaling an end to decades of feeling ignored, with a commitment to preventing such tragedies in the future.
Lawmaker Diana Johnson, a staunch advocate for the victims, calls for accountability and justice, even if some responsible parties may have passed away during the prolonged investigation. She stresses the importance of acknowledging actions taken, regardless of the time elapsed.
The Association Press (AP)
