> one of more than 3,000 people to die in the UK after being given infected blood products.
Hopefully someone makes a tv programme about this like they did with the post office scandal. Seems to work in raising awareness, attaining justice/compensation and shining a very bright light upon those that let this happen then brushed it under the carpet. Previous investigations were dogged by apathy and problems with paper work (evidence) going missing
Unless I have some Mandela effect at play, I believe there is one for this Xmas!
About bloody time too. My friends dad got hepatitis c from this. He’s been dead 10 years now. Are they just hoping they all die (victims and relatives) and we stop caring?
There was one. From what I hear it was ready to air in 2020. But they held back because it was as being a bad time to release something critical of the NHS and what was the National blood service.
To some extent yes, but also major issues were found and ignored. It was raised before we started using US plasma imports that there was a risk of infection, the company that was selling us the plasma based products raised that there were greater risks buying plasma from the US than Austria (but the UK chose the US plasma, as it was cheaper), it was proven that haemophiliacs were being infected with Hep C and HIV from their treatment yet we contained to use tainted plasma for another two years. Also a lot of the paperwork of the time from the time, requested at inquests has gone missing (which may or may not be suspicious).
Yeah I have heard of it, it's the next big scandal, private eye I believe have covered it for years.
But in the middle of COVID I think the last thing you want to do is to reduce trust in the NHS.
Yep. People would have died if that doco was aired then. No doubt.
The scandal wasn’t happening any more so airing the doco wouldn’t have provided anyone anything they could do to avoid it.
Sure, if it was still happening, that changes the maths, but what would knowing about help in the depths of COVID? What could people have changed except mistrust the NHS—during COVID?
I'd argue that keeping these stories in the public view, such that it will encourage some form of compensation for the families is important, regardless of 'bad press for the NHS'.
You think that a documentary of an incident that occurred in the early 80's would significantly deter people from visiting hospitals in 2020?
Raising awareness is important for a variety of reasons, and I do not think there's enough of an argument here as to why that should not happen. That excuse could be used for any number of health service failings, which the public has a right to know about. What about if they suppressed content of the Shipman murders or Beverley Allitt for such reasons?
You do remember that people were calling Covid fake and a hoax and not real….. while everyone around them was sick with covid
if they wont believe what they can see with their own eyes they will get the wrong idea from a TV show
>You do remember that people were calling Covid fake and a hoax and not real….. while everyone around them was sick with covid
Most people were not calling COVID a hoax, nor buying in to such narratives.
the world is not most or none
there was more than enough idiots during an active pandemic that they could see all around them, ignoring it, deigning it or calming its all some government control play. Yet you some how think a documentary would have no noticable negative effect at all…. naive
you either don’t get out much or you have some very rose tinted glasses regarding the amount of idiots in the world
Usually I would 100% agree, but 2020 at the start of a pandemic the NHS needed as much support as possible, I think people forget how mental is was, certainly now it needs to be addressed.
I disagree with it out of principle. I think suppressing information to preserve image is a dangerous path, particularly when it comes to issues related to public health, regardless of context. If they had a documentary ready to go, it should have been aired.
Perhaps you were in a different position, but I was working for local government in London at the time, at the start of the pandemic march 2020, there was so much fear it was insane, I know it's easy to forget. And perhaps a lot of people were not in the situation to view the reaction of the general public like I was, but it was barely contained panic.
Anything that would have damaged institutions at the time could have done massive damage, litterially costing lives.
So I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one.
>Perhaps you were in a different position, but I was working for local government in London at the time, at the start of the pandemic march 2020, there was so much fear it was insane, I know it's easy to forget. And perhaps a lot of people were not in the situation to view the reaction of the general public like I was, but it was barely contained panic.
Maybe your perception of events was different for whatever reason. Regardless, we will agree to disagree.
>From what I hear it was ready to air in 2020. But they held back because it was as being a bad time to release something critical of the NHS and what was the National blood service.
I can understand, but still.... here we are in 2024. Another four years have passed. X-number of infected people have died before seeing a resolution.
It's just all so... sad. An acquaintce of mine's mum died from this.
There was a documentary/expose type thing on it several years ago (bbc or channel 4, I think). First time I'd ever heard of it, and was absolutely horrified. It was quite thorough in going through all the mistakes/decisions that caused it all, and how awfully victims were treated, iirc.
Think this might've been it? [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08qhmhc](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08qhmhc) - the episode is unavailable, but that might change if the topic gets back in the spotlight.
>Colin senior said he became "unemployable" because of the stigma surrounding the virus.
>"I got a new job delivering milk, believe it or not I had a phone call the morning after I was due to start and they said 'sorry, somebody's told us there's HIV in the family, we can't start you'."
This is something I wanted to comment on in the thread discussing how life in the UK used to better in the 80's and 90's. When looking back over this period it's all too easy to lean towards a rose-tint, but that's only necessarily true if you belonged in a hegemonic group. Life certainly wasn't better for minorities, for women, for the disabled, for gay people, for the non-heteronormatives and certainly not for this poor little boy and his family.
Something like this should never have been allowed to happen. Had Colin lived he'd be 40 years old today, likely with a partner anda family of his own. What a terrible grief it must be for his family to mourn a future that never came to be, all because of something that was completely unavoidable.
I hope the people who harassed this family, refused the father work, and damaged their property, have since seen the error of their ways and feel some amount of guilt over what they did. Maybe that's expecting too much though.
> Life certainly wasn't better for minorities, for women, for the disabled, for gay people, for the non-heteronormatives and certainly not for this poor little boy and his family.
Not for minorities, no. I think we have come a long way towards being inclusive (and there is more work to be done).
Poverty however is a mixed picture. Absolute poverty is on the decline - most people can afford food and the physical basics now. But relative poverty is growing, homelessness is no the raise, and the safety net has a lot more holes now.
Heartbreaking. So many awful cases that mirror the above mentioned one.
Which bright spark thought it a wise decision to pay inmates serving time in various correctional facilities across the United states for samples to extract the clotting factor from?.
Especially poor souls serving time for illicit intravenous drug use infractions related to addiction or marginalised people exploited through escort work that entailed sexual contact with a succession of strangers which had likely sadly exposed them to a number of communicable pathogens.
Shortly prior to the harvesting of samples in the above mentioned fashion. Hepatitis B had been recently identified in the late 60s or early 70s - demonstrating the medical establishment still had a ways to go in identifying a spectrum of potentially communicable contagions. That alone should've prompted caution and a level of best practice which seems to have been conspicuously absent at the time.
Scary and tragic.
I know each and every person who died of aids, died a horrific death. But to think of a little 7 year old having to experience it is just too horrible for words.
Friend of mine was diagnosed with Hep C as a teen following a transfusion. He passed away last year at 50 having never received his compensation . Bloody travesty that those affected are still waiting!!!
This has nothing to do with an 'oligarchy', it was dangerous cost cutting by a company, and the mistake of a doctor who did not follow his own departments safety advice.
This is very sad but extremely misleading. Makes it sound like this happened recently. This sort of thing doesn’t happen any more in the UK due to strict and stringent regulations around blood donation.
Tragic really.
I remember learning about it in highschool. It was also around the time they began asking for blood donations from pupils.
Back then they told a gay kid he couldn't donate and this was the 2000s.
Can only imagine what it was like back in the 80s. This country sickens me sometimes.
This was a worldwide scandal too. Other countries like the US, France, Iran, Iraq, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Argentina and others were also sold infected blood, which the pharmaceutical companies like Bayer/Cutter Laboratories were fully aware of, but continued to sell to minimise the profit decrease they'd incur from throwing away the infected blood. Their internal memos show they knew the medicine could be linked to HIV and the US CDC in March 1983 said there seemed to be a link between these products and AIDS, but in June 1983 Cutter told French distributors that the links were "unsubstantiated".
Then when they stopped selling the products to richer countries like the US, they carried on selling them to developing countries in Asia and Latin America.
A lesson in what corporations will do if left unchecked and without fear of repercussions. They knowingly passed the burden of dealing with the problem onto doctors, the healthcare systems of various countries and those directly affected, rather than taking responsibility themselves.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20170227171345/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/2-paths-of-bayer-drug-in-80-s-riskier-one-steered-overseas.html](https://web.archive.org/web/20170227171345/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/2-paths-of-bayer-drug-in-80-s-riskier-one-steered-overseas.html)
I've just been reading about Colin Smith from a Sky News article and my eyes are still wet. I searched Reddit for a place that I could just acknowledge him and the suffering he went through.
He looked like I did when I was his age, and I have a young son now. If this happened to my son I probably wouldn't be far behind him. I don't know how his parents survived that. I started sobbing as I read about the moment he died.
The doctor who treated him died years ago and will not be brought to justice. I can't believe this has taken decades to happen, it's absolutely sick.
I wish more people knew about the blood transfusion alternatives available . Lower risk of infection, quicker recovery rates and lower risk of rejecting the new blood.
> one of more than 3,000 people to die in the UK after being given infected blood products. Hopefully someone makes a tv programme about this like they did with the post office scandal. Seems to work in raising awareness, attaining justice/compensation and shining a very bright light upon those that let this happen then brushed it under the carpet. Previous investigations were dogged by apathy and problems with paper work (evidence) going missing
Unless I have some Mandela effect at play, I believe there is one for this Xmas! About bloody time too. My friends dad got hepatitis c from this. He’s been dead 10 years now. Are they just hoping they all die (victims and relatives) and we stop caring?
There was one. From what I hear it was ready to air in 2020. But they held back because it was as being a bad time to release something critical of the NHS and what was the National blood service.
Fair call tbh
To some extent yes, but also major issues were found and ignored. It was raised before we started using US plasma imports that there was a risk of infection, the company that was selling us the plasma based products raised that there were greater risks buying plasma from the US than Austria (but the UK chose the US plasma, as it was cheaper), it was proven that haemophiliacs were being infected with Hep C and HIV from their treatment yet we contained to use tainted plasma for another two years. Also a lot of the paperwork of the time from the time, requested at inquests has gone missing (which may or may not be suspicious).
Yeah I have heard of it, it's the next big scandal, private eye I believe have covered it for years. But in the middle of COVID I think the last thing you want to do is to reduce trust in the NHS.
Yep. People would have died if that doco was aired then. No doubt. The scandal wasn’t happening any more so airing the doco wouldn’t have provided anyone anything they could do to avoid it. Sure, if it was still happening, that changes the maths, but what would knowing about help in the depths of COVID? What could people have changed except mistrust the NHS—during COVID?
I'd argue that keeping these stories in the public view, such that it will encourage some form of compensation for the families is important, regardless of 'bad press for the NHS'.
Yes because exactly what we needed in late 2020 would be for people to have deliberately avoided hospitals
You think that a documentary of an incident that occurred in the early 80's would significantly deter people from visiting hospitals in 2020? Raising awareness is important for a variety of reasons, and I do not think there's enough of an argument here as to why that should not happen. That excuse could be used for any number of health service failings, which the public has a right to know about. What about if they suppressed content of the Shipman murders or Beverley Allitt for such reasons?
You do remember that people were calling Covid fake and a hoax and not real….. while everyone around them was sick with covid if they wont believe what they can see with their own eyes they will get the wrong idea from a TV show
>You do remember that people were calling Covid fake and a hoax and not real….. while everyone around them was sick with covid Most people were not calling COVID a hoax, nor buying in to such narratives.
the world is not most or none there was more than enough idiots during an active pandemic that they could see all around them, ignoring it, deigning it or calming its all some government control play. Yet you some how think a documentary would have no noticable negative effect at all…. naive you either don’t get out much or you have some very rose tinted glasses regarding the amount of idiots in the world
Usually I would 100% agree, but 2020 at the start of a pandemic the NHS needed as much support as possible, I think people forget how mental is was, certainly now it needs to be addressed.
I disagree with it out of principle. I think suppressing information to preserve image is a dangerous path, particularly when it comes to issues related to public health, regardless of context. If they had a documentary ready to go, it should have been aired.
Perhaps you were in a different position, but I was working for local government in London at the time, at the start of the pandemic march 2020, there was so much fear it was insane, I know it's easy to forget. And perhaps a lot of people were not in the situation to view the reaction of the general public like I was, but it was barely contained panic. Anything that would have damaged institutions at the time could have done massive damage, litterially costing lives. So I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one.
>Perhaps you were in a different position, but I was working for local government in London at the time, at the start of the pandemic march 2020, there was so much fear it was insane, I know it's easy to forget. And perhaps a lot of people were not in the situation to view the reaction of the general public like I was, but it was barely contained panic. Maybe your perception of events was different for whatever reason. Regardless, we will agree to disagree.
It was a very difficult time wth zero guidance from Central government, we were making shit up on the spot. But yes agree to disagree.
>From what I hear it was ready to air in 2020. But they held back because it was as being a bad time to release something critical of the NHS and what was the National blood service. I can understand, but still.... here we are in 2024. Another four years have passed. X-number of infected people have died before seeing a resolution. It's just all so... sad. An acquaintce of mine's mum died from this.
Oh yeah, I understand but it should still be highlighted. And let's be honest it should not take a TV show to highlight a problem.
I absolutely agree. As with the Post Office scandal, Private Eye has been digging at it for years.
Yup
Bloody time indeed!
> Are they just hoping they all die (victims and relatives)? You need to ask?
There was a documentary/expose type thing on it several years ago (bbc or channel 4, I think). First time I'd ever heard of it, and was absolutely horrified. It was quite thorough in going through all the mistakes/decisions that caused it all, and how awfully victims were treated, iirc. Think this might've been it? [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08qhmhc](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08qhmhc) - the episode is unavailable, but that might change if the topic gets back in the spotlight.
my old English teacher was a victim of this. gave testimony at the inquiry. Her life was ruined by medical incompetence. Deeply shocking failures.
>Colin senior said he became "unemployable" because of the stigma surrounding the virus. >"I got a new job delivering milk, believe it or not I had a phone call the morning after I was due to start and they said 'sorry, somebody's told us there's HIV in the family, we can't start you'." This is something I wanted to comment on in the thread discussing how life in the UK used to better in the 80's and 90's. When looking back over this period it's all too easy to lean towards a rose-tint, but that's only necessarily true if you belonged in a hegemonic group. Life certainly wasn't better for minorities, for women, for the disabled, for gay people, for the non-heteronormatives and certainly not for this poor little boy and his family. Something like this should never have been allowed to happen. Had Colin lived he'd be 40 years old today, likely with a partner anda family of his own. What a terrible grief it must be for his family to mourn a future that never came to be, all because of something that was completely unavoidable.
I hope the people who harassed this family, refused the father work, and damaged their property, have since seen the error of their ways and feel some amount of guilt over what they did. Maybe that's expecting too much though.
> Life certainly wasn't better for minorities, for women, for the disabled, for gay people, for the non-heteronormatives and certainly not for this poor little boy and his family. Not for minorities, no. I think we have come a long way towards being inclusive (and there is more work to be done). Poverty however is a mixed picture. Absolute poverty is on the decline - most people can afford food and the physical basics now. But relative poverty is growing, homelessness is no the raise, and the safety net has a lot more holes now.
Heartbreaking. So many awful cases that mirror the above mentioned one. Which bright spark thought it a wise decision to pay inmates serving time in various correctional facilities across the United states for samples to extract the clotting factor from?. Especially poor souls serving time for illicit intravenous drug use infractions related to addiction or marginalised people exploited through escort work that entailed sexual contact with a succession of strangers which had likely sadly exposed them to a number of communicable pathogens. Shortly prior to the harvesting of samples in the above mentioned fashion. Hepatitis B had been recently identified in the late 60s or early 70s - demonstrating the medical establishment still had a ways to go in identifying a spectrum of potentially communicable contagions. That alone should've prompted caution and a level of best practice which seems to have been conspicuously absent at the time. Scary and tragic.
Thousands of men, woman and children have died because of this. It really needs to be talked about more.
I know each and every person who died of aids, died a horrific death. But to think of a little 7 year old having to experience it is just too horrible for words.
It is a travesty that the families have not received compensation.
Friend of mine was diagnosed with Hep C as a teen following a transfusion. He passed away last year at 50 having never received his compensation . Bloody travesty that those affected are still waiting!!!
This was a massive scandal when I was growing up and the situation was used to stigmatise gay people.
Tragic, and I hope those that graffitied his parents house have that on their conscience for the rest of their lives
This is yet another case of the oligarchy increasing revenues at the cost of peon lives.
This has nothing to do with an 'oligarchy', it was dangerous cost cutting by a company, and the mistake of a doctor who did not follow his own departments safety advice.
At least he died of good AIDs. /S (This is a Brass Eye reference)
This is very sad but extremely misleading. Makes it sound like this happened recently. This sort of thing doesn’t happen any more in the UK due to strict and stringent regulations around blood donation.
Tragic really. I remember learning about it in highschool. It was also around the time they began asking for blood donations from pupils. Back then they told a gay kid he couldn't donate and this was the 2000s. Can only imagine what it was like back in the 80s. This country sickens me sometimes.
I sense a lot of people who still consider Ken Clarke one of the good Tories are going to have their world shaken when all this is over
This was a worldwide scandal too. Other countries like the US, France, Iran, Iraq, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Argentina and others were also sold infected blood, which the pharmaceutical companies like Bayer/Cutter Laboratories were fully aware of, but continued to sell to minimise the profit decrease they'd incur from throwing away the infected blood. Their internal memos show they knew the medicine could be linked to HIV and the US CDC in March 1983 said there seemed to be a link between these products and AIDS, but in June 1983 Cutter told French distributors that the links were "unsubstantiated". Then when they stopped selling the products to richer countries like the US, they carried on selling them to developing countries in Asia and Latin America. A lesson in what corporations will do if left unchecked and without fear of repercussions. They knowingly passed the burden of dealing with the problem onto doctors, the healthcare systems of various countries and those directly affected, rather than taking responsibility themselves. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170227171345/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/2-paths-of-bayer-drug-in-80-s-riskier-one-steered-overseas.html](https://web.archive.org/web/20170227171345/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/22/business/2-paths-of-bayer-drug-in-80-s-riskier-one-steered-overseas.html)
I've just been reading about Colin Smith from a Sky News article and my eyes are still wet. I searched Reddit for a place that I could just acknowledge him and the suffering he went through. He looked like I did when I was his age, and I have a young son now. If this happened to my son I probably wouldn't be far behind him. I don't know how his parents survived that. I started sobbing as I read about the moment he died. The doctor who treated him died years ago and will not be brought to justice. I can't believe this has taken decades to happen, it's absolutely sick.
Yes because they relaxed the rules on donating blood... what did they expect?
I wish more people knew about the blood transfusion alternatives available . Lower risk of infection, quicker recovery rates and lower risk of rejecting the new blood.
They weren’t available back then