Sunak: Blood scandal 'day of shame' for Britain
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The tainted blood crisis of Britain resulted in at least 30,000 infections, including 380 children.
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Infected blood campaigners gather in Parliament Square, ahead of the publication of the final report into the scandal in London on May 19, 2024 (AP)
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has apologized for the tainted blood crisis, describing it as a decades-long moral failing.
He was reacting to the public inquiry's findings on the issue, which has resulted in 30,000 infections from tainted blood treatments, including 380 children, and is considered the largest medical catastrophe in the NHS.
Findings showed that officials covered up the incident, exposing victims to unacceptable dangers in what Sunak characterized as a "day of shame for the British state".
The Infected Blood Inquiry, which looked into 50 years of decision-making that led to, during, and following the infection of thousands by tainted blood beginning in the 1970's, accused doctors, the government, and the NHS of allowing patients to get HIV and hepatitis being let down "not once, but repeatedly."
Approximately 3,000 people have perished since then, with more expected.
Sunak expressed he was "truly sorry" to the House of Commons for his failings and vowed he would pay "whatever it costs" in compensation payments to victims.
Keir Starmer, Labour leader, also apologized, characterizing it as one of the "gravest injustices" the country has experienced and said that victims had "suffered unspeakably".
The inquiry's chair, Sir Brian Langstaff, accused authorities of being too slow to respond and cited the effort was a "hiding the truth."
There had been a lack of transparency, investigation, and accountability, as well as aspects of "downright deception" such as document destruction.
However, hiding the truth includes not only willful concealment, but also telling half-truths or failing to inform patients about information they had a right to know, such as the dangers of the treatment they had received, the alternatives available, and, in certain cases, the fact they had been infected.
"The infections happened because those in authority - doctors, the blood services and successive governments - did not put patient safety first."
The government has offered payments of £100,000 to about 4,000 survivors and bereaved partners.
UK shredded key files amid infected blood deaths lawsuit panic
Ministers in the UK denied knowledge of disastrous failures in the contaminated blood scandal for decades, despite documents showing destruction, loss, and restricted access to key files, according to memos submitted to the official inquiry in early May.
Shredded batches of files related to a blood safety advisory committee indicate government actions amid legal threats. Patients affected by contaminated blood also reported the destruction or initial withholding of their hospital records. The scandal resulted in about 3,000 deaths from tainted blood products. Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson, advocating for victims' compensation, highlighted that governments resisted inquiries due to undisclosed failures until 2017.
Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson, an advocate for victims' rights and fair compensation, suggested that ministers managed to deflect demands for a public inquiry due to the absence of disclosed documents revealing the extent of failures. She highlighted that until 2017, successive governments maintained the stance that there was no necessity for a public inquiry, asserting that all procedures were conducted appropriately.
Beatrice Morgan, a senior associate solicitor at the law firm Leigh Day, representing approximately 300 individuals impacted by the scandal, stated that there was, at minimum, a significant mishandling of documents. Many of their clients suspect a deliberate cover-up and intentional misinformation.
