Victim tells of ‘coalition of secrecy’ around infected blood products

A man diagnosed with hepatitis C linked to infected blood used by the NHS was not told about it by his doctors for nine years, an inquiry into the scandal has heard.

Thomas Griffiths contracted hepatitis C while Alistair Bennett died at 22 after being infected by HIV, both as a result of being given contaminated blood products. Picture: PA

Thomas Griffiths said a “coalition of secrecy” about his situation also applied to many other affected patients, claiming this may have resulted in people dying unnecessarily.

The 75-year-old was speaking at the Infected Blood Inquiry, which is taking evidence from patients in Scotland for the first time at a series of hearings in Edinburgh.

The scandal, described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, saw thousands of patients infected with HIV and hepatitis C via contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.

Around 2,400 people are thought to have died as a result of the failings, with an earlier public inquiry into the issue in Scotland labelled a “whitewash” by victims.

The new inquiry has been taking evidence since September, travelling around the UK speaking to victims and their families in an attempt to discover if there was a cover up. Mr Griffiths said he raised concerns with doctors treating him for haemophilia at a hospital in Dumfries in the mid-1980s after hearing of infections from imported blood products such as Factor VIII.

Despite the fact that he was being treated with Factor VIII, he said doctors told him there was “absolutely no need to worry” as imported blood was never used in Scotland.

It was not until 1999 that he received a letter from his doctor telling him he had hepatitis C which “may have occurred some years ago in association with Factor VIII or other blood products”.

He phoned his doctor who said it was “nothing to worry about” and told him: “The important thing about hepatitis C is that it’s not life threatening, only life shortening.”

After a two-year fight to access his medical records, he found he had actually been diagnosed with the virus in 1990, but had not been told about it by doctors at the time.

Mr Griffiths described the use of infected blood products as an “aberration” in the “otherwise wonderful history of the health service”.

He added: “When the horrors began to unfold there was widespread fear of how bad this might prove to be. This led to a coalition of secrecy involving government departments, health service officials and medical professionals.

“Had there been more openness and honesty, perhaps many lives could have been saved and many more lives less blighted.”

The inquiry also heard from a mother whose son died after being infected by HIV while being treated for haemophilia who believes doctors tried to “obscure” his cause of death.

Alison Bennett, who now lives in Edinburgh, said her son Alistair’s death at the age of 22 was recorded as blood poisoning and bronchopneumonia with a secondary cause of haemophilia. She said: “To my mind that is trying to obscure the fact that the main cause of death was HIV/Aids.”

She believes the doctors who signed the death certificate were “being pressured” not to reveal the cause.

She said: “I can’t prove that but that’s my gut feeling, that there was a genuine attempt to obscure what happened.”

Ms Bennett said Alistair attended Newcastle University but became progressively more ill and died in hospital in Liverpool aged 22.

Ms Bennett, a former anaesthetist, said she knew of the dangers that pooled plasma as used in Factor VIII from the late 1960s and early 1970s significantly increased the risk of virus infections. She said: “I knew this from my medical training. I cannot understand how the NHS sanctioned the purchase of American Factor VIII and denied there was increased risk.”

A third witness, who gave evidence anonymously, said he had attempted to take his own life after losing his partner and job having been diagnosed with hepatitis C, years after being given a blood transfusion following a lorry crash as a teenager.

The inquiry, before former High Court judge Sir Brian Langstaff, continues.