http://news.scotsman.com/print.cfm?i...id%3D602452005
Demands renewed for public inquiry into infected blood
LOUISE GRAY
CALLS are growing for a public inquiry into why haemophiliacs were not adequately warned of the risks from infected blood products.
Hundreds of haemophiliacs received a transfusion infected with hepatitis C or HIV in Scotland in the 1970s and 1980s.
Now documents uncovered by the BBC’s Frontline Scotland programme suggest doctors knew the risks but did not tell patients until years later.
Official reports obtained under freedom of information legislation also stated facilities used to process blood were below standard.
The Scottish Executive said treatment was provided in good faith by health professionals involved at the time. But campaigners are calling once again for a public inquiry in the light of the evidence.
Shona Robison, the SNP’s health spokeswoman, will today ask Jack McConnell, the First Minister, for a public inquiry. She said: "There is already a strong case for a public inquiry into the infection of innocent people, but it has been made stronger by the Frontline Scotland evidence.
Ms Robison said the fact haemophiliac patients were not told of the risks of infection, as they were in the Netherlands, and the continuing use of "high risk" blood from prisons by the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service must be investigated.
Solicitor Frank Maguire, who represents more than 100 hepatitis C patients, said those infected deserve an inquiry.
He said: "These people have never had an explanation as to why somebody went to hospital for a transfusion or a graft and came back with hepatitis C and died with it.
"Why were they only told years and years later when the NHS knew well before that?"
However, a Scottish Executive spokeswoman said payments are already made to people who contracted hepatitis C or HIV from blood and blood products as a result of NHS treatment.
She added: "The treatment given to haemophiliacs was provided in good faith by the health professionals involved at the time.
"The risks of that treatment were not known at the time."
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