Police probe claims that doctor 'failed to tell patients they had HIV'

POLICE are investigating claims that a leading consultant withheld the HIV status of haemophiliacs – and endangered the lives of their family members by keeping their medical status secret for years.

Robert Mackie, who was infected with the virus after being given contaminated blood, said he contracted HIV in 1984 but was not told of his condition by his consultant, Professor Christopher Ludlam, until 1987.

Mr Mackie claimed he and other patients of Prof Ludlam had been used for Aids research and exposed to a virulent strain of HIV.

The Scotsman can reveal detectives have been investigating the allegations since they were made to police last year by the Edinburgh South MSP Mike Pringle. He was asked to intervene by one of his constituents, another haemophiliac who was treated with a contaminated blood product.

Officers have since interviewed Prof Ludlum, who is based at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and Mr Mackie.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "Inquiries are taking place and once they have concluded, a report will be sent to the procurator fiscal."

The inquiry has thrown the spotlight on Britain's biggest NHS treatment scandal, which saw hundreds of haemophiliacs in Scotland given tainted blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.

Across the UK, almost 4,700 patients were infected through contaminated transfusions, and some 2,000 have died.

A wide-ranging public inquiry into how people in Scotland were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from contaminated blood is to be carried out by Lord Penrose, following years of campaigning by victims for a proper investigation.

Mr Mackie, 58, of Cardrona, Peebleshire, raised his own complaints at a separate privately funded inquiry in London, led by Lord Archer, which ended in February with calls for more compensation for victims of tainted blood products.

Mr Mackie claims 16 haemophiliacs became infected from one batch of blood and that Prof Ludlam failed to inform patients of the risk.

Two of his uncles, one cousin and several haemophiliac friends of Mr Mackie have since died from Aids.

The patients had been given a batch of infected "Factor VIII" blood product.

Mr Mackie said he had continually asked if there were any risks but was told there was nothing to worry about.

He says a series of articles for medical journals and research papers show how Prof Ludlam, professor of haematology and coagulation medicine, used the Edinburgh group for research into Aids, which was only beginning to come into the public spotlight in the early 1980s.

A letter from Prof Ludlam showed he appeared to be "offering up" Royal Infirmary patients as a candidate group for research, Mr Mackie alleges.

Dr Robert Gordon, of the National Institute of Health, had put out an appeal in the Lancet medical journal in 1983, calling for "similarly treated haemophiliacs in a geographical area to which Aids has not yet been introduced".

It went on: "The resolution of this question by a timely investigation in some country where cases of Aids have not yet been reported would be an immense help to public health workers."

In a medical newsletter in 1990, Prof Ludlam described a unique group of patients in Scotland that had formed the basis of several years of important research on Aids.

Yesterday, Mr Mackie told The Scotsman: "I became infected by a single batch in March 1984, which was too late in the day not to be informed about the risks and dangers of Aids.

"My medical papers show I was being used for an Aids study in the spring of 1983. Professor Ludlum didn't tell me I was infected until 1987. Why did he wait so long? I knew it was tantamount to a death sentence."

Prof Ludlum could not be contacted yesterday, and NHS Lothian said it was unable to comment on the claims.

Mr Pringle instigated the police investigation after attempts by Mr Mackie to gain answers from Prof Ludlum and NHS Lothian failed.

"Clearly, these people were badly serviced by the NHS and by a number of doctors who have always refused to acknowledge responsibility," said Mr Pringle.