Leicestershire blood transfusion victim fights for pay-out
A man who caught hepatitis C from a blood transfusion is fighting the Government for more compensation.
David Bailey, 63, from Barwell, developed severe liver damage and had to have a transplant after receiving tainted blood through NHS treatment in the 1980s.
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David Bailey
MPs are now fighting for more compensation for David and the 5,000 haemophiliacs like him who also contracted Hepatitis C in the tragedy, dubbed "Britain's biggest blood disaster" by campaigners.
David said: "Our lives have been totally ruined in that most of us have had to finish work and most are very ill."
Until he was 22, David suffered bleeds in his joints and internal organs, spending months in hospital.
Then, new blood products developed in the 1970s and 1980s enabled clotting factors to be administered by injection.
David, 63, who was head of a council computer section, said they stopped bleeds and reduced the need for time off work.
But the blood used was not screened for infections and many people became ill.
David was one of many who caught hepatitis C through the treatment.
He was subsequently given a liver transplant due to damage caused by the illness, but the untreatable form of Hepatitis C remains in his system.
Now, it is rapidly destroying the donor liver as well.
David, who played on the England bowling team despite his illness, is supporting the Haemophilia Alliance's campaign for compensation.
In 1991, victims were given payments averaging £20,000 for those who contracted hepatitis C, with an additional £25,000 for those, like David, who had a transplant.
But people in other countries received much more and campaigners want parity with Ireland, which gave 750,000 euros – or £657,000.
The campaign resulted in an Early Day Motion being submitted in Parliament on Friday. This calls for adoption of the Contaminated Blood Bill, which seeks compensation.
David Tredinnick, MP for Bosworth, is backing the campaign and said: "Fair compensation for the victims must be provided by the Government. There has never been a Government-backed public inquiry to ensure lessons are learned and victims are properly supported."
The Early Day Motion gets its next reading on February 26.
Comments
by Sue Threakall, Barnstaple
Tuesday, February 16 2010, 10:13AM
“As secretary of TaintedBlood, the group that campaigns and advocates on behalf of all those infected and affected by contaminated blood and blood supplies, this is, sadly, the kind of story I hear every day. We have been fighting for truth and justice for nearly thirty years now, while our friends and family continue to die at the rate of at least one per month. Since Kerry McCarthy raised her one word objection to this humanitarian Bill I have heard of one more death; one more family in mourning. Ours is a small, finite community of sick, disabled and bereaved people, many of whom are living on or below the poverty line because of what happened. It is a community that was created, George Orwell fashion by the Government all those years ago and which has been bonded together by successive governments inaction ever since. At the lobby in parliament two weeks ago were many people whose lifespan is severely limited and many whose day to day life is a painful struggle; yet they still travelled to London from as far away as Inverness, to meet with their MP. The whole thing is a national disgrace, and one which many other countries sorted out properly years ago.
should like to thank David Tredinnick for his support on this issue.
Finally, I should point out that the phrase: 'more compensation' is a little misleading. Victims of this, 'The worst medical disaster in the history of the NHS' (Lords Winston & Morris) have never received proper compensation, only a series of small, inadequate ex-gratia payments. They sound big if you say them quickly but in most cases were no more than the equivalent of a year or two's salary - small change for the loss of relationships, pensions, homes, careers, health, financial freedom and often,as in my late husband's case, a life.”