TODAY, ALL donor blood is tested before it’s used to make sure it does not contain serious infections. Whilst I was practising as a sickle cell nurse in the 1970s and 80s, many people became chronically ill, or died, because they received blood or blood products infected with the hepatitis and HIV viruses .
When HIV first emerged, the risk of infection from blood products to my patients gradually seeped into my consciousness. At the time, there was so much secrecy and hesitancy to discuss the problem, people who contracted HIV faced stigma, where they should have been shown empathy and support. The Infected Blood Inquiry was established three years ago to at last understand what has in the past been described as ‘the worst treatment disaster in NHS’ history’.
In the 1970s and 80s, medicine was much more paternalistic, and often patients were not listened to. Many wondered why they had never been asked their opinion about their treatment. But, hearing patient voices is critical and that is changing now.
The Infected Blood Inquiry is UK wide, and so far over 2,000 people who were infected with hepatitis and/or HIV, or the families of those who have died have given evidence to the Inquiry. For the Inquiry to paint an accurate picture of the failures that led to this tragedy, it needs to hear about the experiences of everyone who might have been infected.
I am writing this article to encourage people who may have received infected blood, or infected blood as part of their treatment for sickle cell and thalassaemia to share their experiences with the Inquiry. But I also feel it is important at this point to say that the Inquiry wants to hear from anyone who received infected blood from a transfusion before September 1991 ,when testing started – for instance during childbirth, an operation, or following an accident.
Facing up to past failings helps to show that change can happen.
I know it can be difficult for people to speak out, particularly for those of us who experienced overt racism in the 1980s. I still remember far right organisations like the National Front using sickle cell and thalassaemia as part of their racist campaigns, saying migrants were bringing diseases into the country. But, this is our history, we should own it – we have nothing to be ashamed of.
It is important that the voices of sickle cell and thalassaemia patients form part of the national record of what went wrong, and why. I first became a sickle cell nurse after meeting a patient, and realising that I’d not been taught anything about their condition as part of my medicine course. The health of black people is often under reported or unrecorded.
You can share your experiences with the Inquiry anonymously and in confidence. The Inquiry offers psychological support from the Red Cross. That team has attended all the Inquiry hearings, understands the complex emotions involved and are available for everyone who is participating in the Inquiry.
To find out more about sharing your experiences with the Infected Blood Inquiry email [email protected] or call 0808 169 1377.
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At last someone has managed to highlight the key issue, black lives also matter. In the UK today infected blood from healthcare transfusions or or reused medical syringes has infected 200.000 migrants with hepatitis b or hepatitis c.
Yet the blatant racism of the current UK Inquiry is only interested in the 5,000 mainly white British victims.
To quote the Judge running the Inquiry when asked about the 200.000 migrants in danger of dying of the Pandemic he said “oh we have forgot about them.”
Health racism unlike police racism silently kills tens of thousands not a few in a blaze of publicity.
The Inquiry is committed to ensuring that anyone who was treated with infected blood, or blood products prior to 1991 is able to share their experiences.
The Inquiry is committed to ensuring anyone who was treated with infected blood, or blood products prior to 1991 is able to share their experiences with the Inquiry whatever their citizenship or place of birth.
I am a victim, I have given evidence at the inquiry, and it affects my life even today. I was given blood to save my life. I thank the NHS everyday,
The NHS knowingly give people with blood disorders poisoned factor 8, hid there HIV status, and used them to test failed HIV drugs. Adult, child, black or white, everyone got poisoned. I’m a proud, tough, Glasgow man; and the evidence broke my heart. The only consideration the NHS did was try to protect children from the tainted products, but failed, badly.
I hate racism, my city was built on slavery, and I’m sympathic towards ALL people as they fight discrimination.
This is about doctor’s acting as God, conducting experiments on children, with an attitude akin to a Nazi doctor, not racism.
Every victim needs a say, black, white, or pink with yellow spots because you happen to be Mr Bobby’s love child.
This inquiry is even letting dead people having their story told, scroll back on news reports, the failure of service was wholesale.
Dame Elizabeth Anionwu is a fantastic woman and an inspiration to us all.
I have already submitted a statement on behalf of my son because he doesn’t have the mental capacity to do it himself, but I needed to update it because I discovered something else. My son suffered an episode of antral gastritis and internal bleeding in 1993. He lost nearly half his blood after vomiting it all up and he had to have blood transfusions because he almost bled to death. This happened after he had been given factor VIII which had the hepatitis b virus in it. He had been given a course of hep b vaccines 3 years 4 months prior to this and the doctors told me that they needed to “wake up” the vaccine by doing this to him. When he ended up in hospital 3 months later, they performed an endoscopy then told me he had “a little bit of a stomach ulcer, nothing to worry about”. When I asked more questions the nurse said to me “hemophiliacs bleed unexpectedly sometimes”. One thing I know for certain is that haemophilia doesn’t erode stomach lining! It wasn’t until I got his records in 2019 and researched the words they used that I discovered that my son had suffered the effects of pathogenic priming (also known as antibody dependent enhancement or ADE). Rather than tell me the truth they gaslighted me into thinking that his haemophilia was the sole cause of this. IT WASN’T! This was an immune mediated overreaction and it’s not the first time something like this had happened to him. The first time was when he developed brain swelling which caused a bleed in his brain 19 days after I was conned into allowing him to be vaccinated with the MMR (which contains live viruses) in March 1988. Yes, this was during the trial phase because it wasn’t launched until October 1988. But again, when he ended up in intensive care they told me that it was “a spontaneous intracranial haemorrhage” due to his haemophilia and that they didn’t know how it happened. He ended up with permanent brain damage as a direct result of this injury. Then I see his records 30 years later and found out that they had lied to me! They just wanted to stop me from telling the truth before they launched this monstrosity on every innocent toddler in the country several months later. I can’t remember the last time I cried so much. The reason I can’t find any human studies about this immune system overreaction is because it’s unethical for doctors to do this to humans. He was only 6 years old when those doctors gave him hep b virus. Now his doctors want to give him a COVID-19 vaccine and let him go out into the big wide world where he will come into contact with the live virus. I have objected to it because of what happened to him before but they won’t listen and now they are taking the matter to court! Because they didn’t tell me the truth I have no proof and I am scared they are going to kill my son with their experimental COVID-19 concoction. I had been trying to contact the inquiry for nearly a year to update my statement and I eventually got through a few weeks ago but nobody has got back in touch with me. I know that my son is not the only one they did this to. I don’t usually write things online but if I didn’t write this nobody would know the suffering my son has endured. 3 months is an important time lag. It usually signifies immune mediated responses after infection, start of a new drug, reaction after vaccination basically anything that assaults your system. Why hasn’t anyone been in touch? I haven’t even seen a copy of the statement I made last January!
The truly shocking fact about contributor “Dee” account is that it is believable for anyone with a knowledge of the Gentile Caucasian medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry.
The awful truth is the general public ought not to trust the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry because both place their salaries or profits before their Hippocratic oath or ethical pretensions.
I could give many examples of why the medical professionals and the pharmaceutical industry should not be trusted; but this one example should suffice.
Blood is purchased in the United States from prisoners and the desperate.
In the 1980s the American Blood Service discovered that blood purchased from drug addicted people of California’s infamous Skid Row was contaminated. The American authorities sold the contaminated blood to the English and the French.
A recent report has slammed Parliament and England’s scientific agencies for a “horrific human tragedy” that led to thousands of patients becoming infected with HIV and Hepatitis C from “skid row” donors with contaminated blood.
The inquiry, led by Labour Peer Lord Archer of Sandwell, said the infection of so many people was a “horrific human tragedy.”
The authors of the report said they were “dismayed” at the time taken by the Government and scientific agencies to respond to the dangers of Hepatitis C and HIV infections.
The report said: “It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that commercial interests took precedence over public health concerns.”
I put it to Voice readers today, that profits are driving the pharmaceutical industry to develop diverse vaccines; as mandatory vaccines requirements have caused the big six vaccine manufacturers huge profits?