To be so completely shocked by the blood scandal

[ChristmasGutPunch]

I knew a lot of children got sick and died in later life but I thought it was a terrible accident or oversight. A mistake because we didn't know any better. I had no idea there was a conscious decision to infect small boys on purpose to see what happened. How can this possibly have happened? How come I didn't realise the full extent until now??

If I were an affected family member I'd want to murder those involved. It's unbearable.

It really was a massive coverup. There was a blood plasma product called Koate made by a subsidiary of Bayer I think. Donors were often prisoners or homeless drug users.
On the instructions for use it says in bold that Hep C should be assumed to be present as it had not been screened. They still used it. For many years. It's so shocking. And the experiments they did?! Words fail me.

No - to be clear, senior people in the NHS and government chose to infect "PUPs" (previously untreated persons... Also mostly children) with HIV, hepatitis, other bloodborne disease. Knowing this would happen. Partly so they could monitor the prospects of the infected children as time went on. This was in my lifetime and I'm not yet 50.

And yes the dad who lost his job because his little boy contracted HIV and everyone shunned the family. Fuck. How do we live with ourselves as a species?

Up to 27,000 people caught it when they were given transfusions with infected blood from the 1970s until 1991.

And this is just one of the many reasons why Jehovah Witnesses don’t take blood transfusions. This is just disgusting

Reading 7 year old, Colin John Smiths story made me absolutely weep.

What his poor parents went through and still do to this day is just so painful and they, and all the other victims of this scandal should not be still going through this fight for justice and recognition of the horrendous way everybody involved have behaved.

It absolutely isn't ffs

-edited to clarify - yes it’s disgusting, but absolutely not why JW abstain from blood:

Why don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses accept blood transfusions?

This is a religious issue rather than a medical one. Both the Old and New Testaments clearly command us to abstain from blood. (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:10; Deuteronomy 12:23; Acts 15:28, 29) Also, God views blood as representing life. (Leviticus 17:14) So we avoid taking blood not only in obedience to God but also out of respect for him as the Giver of life.

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jehovahs-witnesses-why-no-blood-transfusions/

It is truly awful & so many have died before seeing justice

this one made me cry
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c72pd0yep27o.amp

Suffering & damage continues today
https://news.stv.tv/scotland/infected-blood-inquiry-ive-waited-25-years-for-this-report-it-is-going-to-cause-an-earthquake

See also tuskegee syphilis experiment and black triangle MRNA experiments.

They are also looking for any excuse not to give compensation, for instance, if you didn't need acute treatment for Hep C then no compensation for you. Excuse me??? If you didn't know you had Hep C, and had no reason to think you had it (because you don't expect hospitals to be trying to kill you), then why would you have gone for acute treatment?? FFS, I'm appalled by this too.

You don’t need to educate me, I’m literally a JW.

If you see my comment then you’ll see that I said this is one of the many reasons. Speak to any JW and they’ll say that blood is sacred hence why they won’t accept a blood transfusion. We also have no clue what is in blood that’s been donated hence why it’s refused. HTH

Oh God. I'm not a habitual crier over these things, more a rager but Euan's story, and that of his parents...... and so many more....

So, so awful.

Yes, they have been warned of the risks formally by way of multiple letters from the British Embassy in the US and a number of professionals and politicians over many years (Lord Owen included, I believe he was the Attorney General at the time?).

In short, US government was paying people for donating blood. A lot of donations came from prisoners and drug addicts for that reason. Many lied on their forms regarding infections they had. The US government/private companies then mixed up blood plasma from between 2,000-22,000 (or even up to 30,000 according to most recent reports) donors to create Factor VIII treatment for haemophiliacs. Blood was untested and untreated. UK NHS was producing its own Factor VIII differently but since this was a new treatment and the demand was incredibly high they couldn't keep up (aka failed to invest in suitable facililities) and instead chose to import the cheapest option from the US which resulted in 30,000 individuals in the UK being unknowingly infected with HIV and Hepatitis C, many of them were young children. Thousands have died by now, many infected their family members unknowingly as well.

The entire thing is so shambolic that it beggars belief anyone thought it was a good idea and nobody has stopped it. It was a callous decision from the start and a blatant disregard towards patients' lives.

It does make me angry that we are forced to accept stuff because it is the cheapest and not safe.
Didn't a similar thing happen with the smog and air pollution in London where the government had people using filthy coal in their homes and power stations while the good quality stuff was exported to help balance of payments. Thousands died but many were moved out of London to improve figures.
Then the bse cover up.
And don't get me started on the substandard PPE and that mone woman

Children were sent to special schools where they were experimented on by doctors.

"Just 32 of the 122 haemophiliacs who attended the school from 1974 to 1987 are still alive today. Most died after contracting HIV or viral hepatitis."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57547366

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c6gz70808ext

It's worse than that, though - the infected status was part of the reason for giving it to the kids. It was an experiment.

This was the time of doctor knew best - whether they were good or bad and no such thing as informed consent. We were all expected to do as we were told

Wow, this is absolutely awful. I was under the impression the scandal was a tragic accident.

How do you know small boys were purposely infected? Have read the links in the thread and had a quick Google but can’t find anything in relation to experimentation.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tainted-blood-victims-used-for-secret-research-without-consent-bcflkx5mk

At least one of the links also explains that doctors understood there was a statistical certainty of infection because of how many different donors contributed to each treatment.

Just another reason never to vote Tory.

And worse than that. The clean blood Irish people were donating for free was being sold for a profit.

So pleased to see the truth finally come out.
Not only were boys experimented on they often were not told they were infected. So went on to infect others.
Medical records were destroyed to prevent people knowing they were infected.
Governments, Bayer and the NHS covered it up for decades.
They knew and it was not a mistake.
there is a great pod cast called Bed of Lies if you have the stomach for it.
Hoping tomorrow brings justice, peace and accountability for the victims.
Ken Clarkes evidence to the inquiry is on you tube and will make you wonder why he’s not facing criminal charges.

And yet if people said anything against the NHS four years ago they were a conspiracy theorist /granny killer/nazi.

Google anthrax London underground 1960s

I am watching this on the news now, it’s absolutely harrowing. There will be people alive now who should face criminal action for this but I doubt anyone will. Thoughts with all the victims and families today, I hope you get the justice you deserve.