A report released Monday investigating the use of contaminated blood that infected roughly 5,000 hemophiliacs in Britain blamed U.S. companies for the scandal, and called for increased financial aid to victims.
Roughly one-third of the victims have died since becoming infected with HIV and hepatitis C after receiving blood transfusions through Britain’s state-run National Health Service (NHS) in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
House of Lords member Peter Archer, who led the two-year non-governmental investigation, said it was “a horrific human tragedy” and called it the worst treatment disaster in the history of Britain’s NHS.
The review panel found U.S. companies that supplied the tainted products bore “a significant burden of responsibility.” However, the report did not specifically name any U.S. companies or doctors. The products, which were used to treat hemophilia, an inherited disorder in which blood is prevented from clotting. The treatments involved the use of blood collected from thousands of donors.
“Long after alarms had been founded about the risks of obtaining paid-for blood donations from communities with an increased incidence of relevant infections, such as prison inmates, this practice continued. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that commercial interests took precedence over public health concerns,” the authors wrote.
After gathering evidence for two years, Archer’s committee argued that people who were infected should be entitled to financial and medical benefits that they are not currently receiving.
The report also highlighted other medical ethics concerns.
“We are satisfied that some patients were subjected to tests without knowledge of their purpose and without their consent, a practice described by some witnesses as being treated as experimental guinea pigs,” it stated.
Tainted blood scandals have been investigated throughout the world, but the British report is the first detailed inquiry. However, the nonbinding investigation will not directly lead to criminal charges.
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