Fury over hepatitis C decision

Haemophiliacs caught hepatitis C through infected blood products

Haemophiliacs in Scotland who were accidentally infected with the potentially fatal hepatitis C virus have reacted with fury to the news that their case for compensation is not to be reviewed.

Health minister Susan Deacon has said she will not look again at their claims, despite last week's ruling that victims in England and Wales were entitled to cash payouts.

Hundreds of haemophiliacs in Scotland were infected by contaminated NHS blood products in the 1980s.

A report to Ms Deacon in October last year cleared the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) of blame for haemophiliacs contracting hepatitis C from blood products in the 1980s.

Susan Deacon: Rejected compensation

It said the SNBTS "worked actively" during to find a way of eliminating the virus.

However, last month a test case at the High Court in London ruled that people infected in England and Wales were entitled to compensation.

According to opponents, Ms Deacon is intent on dragging Scottish victims through the courts.

Scottish National Party health spokeswoman Nicola Sturgeon said: "She seems determined to force people whose lives have been ruined by contracting hepatitis C, through absolutely no fault of there own, through the courts.

"I think that is wrong. I think these people should be paid compensation as a matter of right.

Nicola Sturgeon: Think again

"And even at this stage I hope Susan Deacon thinks again."

Some 300 haemophiliacs in Scotland contracted Hepatitis C through infected blood products used in medical treatments.

The executive is refusing compensation on the grounds there was no negligence but the successful English challenge was not based on negligence.

It was based on the fact patients had been given faulty products.

Lawyers are considering the same legal challenge here.

Lawyer Cameron Fyfe said: "Under the Consumer Protection Act you don't have to prove negligence. All you have to show is that the blood product was defective.

"I think for that reason any court action raised up here would be successful."

The Scottish Parliament's Health Committee is still considering the issues but victims here say the moral argument for compensation is now beyond question.

The Haemophilia Society is angry at the decision

Philip Dolan of the Haemophilia Society said: "People with haemophilia are angry. It really is yet another snub to those people who have been affected that the minister of the Scottish Executive does not care.

"And it strengthens the view that a public enquiry should take place."

Blood products have been screened for hepatitis C since 1991.

There should now be no risk to patients.

But alongside this deepening controversy about infected haemophiliacs, the English judgement - legally persuasive although not binding in Scotland - could yet have far reaching implications for damages actions against the Health Service.