LONDON (AP) — Victims of the U.K.'s infected blood scandal, in which tens of thousands of people were infected by contaminated blood or blood products provided by the public health service, will start receiving their final compensation payments this year, the government said Tuesday.
Officials announced the compensation plans a day after the publication of a report that found civil servants and doctors exposed patients to unacceptable risks by giving them blood transfusions or blood products tainted with HIV or hepatitis from the 1970s to the early 1990s.
The scandal is seen as the deadliest disaster in the history of Britain’s state-run National Health Service since its inception in 1948. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday apologized for the “decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life."
The report said successive U.K. governments refused to admit wrongdoing and tried to cover up the scandal, in which an estimated 3,000 people died after receiving the contaminated blood or blood products. In total, the report said about 30,000 people were infected with HIV or hepatitis C, a kind of liver infection, over the period.
Cabinet Office Minister John Glen told lawmakers on Tuesday that he recognized that “time is of the essence," and that victims who need payments most urgently will receive a further interim compensation of 210,000 pounds ($267,000) within 90 days, ahead of the establishment of the full payment plan.
He also said that friends and family who have cared for those infected would also be eligible to claim compensation.
Authorities made a first interim payment of 100,000 pounds in 2022 to each survivor and bereaved partner. Glen did not confirm the total cost of the compensation package, though it is reported to be more than 10 billion pounds ($12.7 billion).
But Des Collins, a lawyer representing dozens of the victims, said many bereaved families have not received any payments to date and have no information on how to claim interim payments pledged to the estates of those who have died.
Campaigners have fought for decades to bring official failings to light and secure government compensation. The inquiry was finally approved in 2017, and over the past four years it reviewed evidence from more than 5,000 witnesses and over 100,000 documents.
Many of those affected were people with hemophilia, a condition affecting the blood’s ability to clot. In the 1970s, patients were given a new treatment from the United States that contained plasma from high-risk donors, including prison inmates, who were paid to give blood.
Because manufacturers of the treatment mixed plasma from thousands of donations, one infected donor would compromise the whole batch.
The report said around 1,250 people with bleeding disorders, including 380 children, were infected with HIV -tainted blood products. Three-quarters of them have died. Up to 5,000 others who received the blood products developed chronic hepatitis C.
An estimated 26,800 others were also infected with hepatitis C after receiving blood transfusions, often given in hospitals after childbirth, surgery or an accident, the report said.
The disaster could have largely been avoided had officials taken steps to address the known risks linked to blood transfusions or the use of blood products, the report concluded, adding that the U.K. lagged behind many developed countries in introducing rigorous screening of blood products and blood donor selection.
The harm done was worsened by concealment and a defensive culture within the government and health services, the inquiry added.
CORRECTS FATHER DENNIS TO HUSBAND BARRIE - Cressida Haughton, left, who's father Derek and Deborah Dennis who's husband Barrie died, react outside Central Hall in Westminster in London, after the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry report, Monday May 20, 2024. British authorities and the country's public health service knowingly exposed tens of thousands of patients to deadly infections through contaminated blood and blood products, and hid the truth about the disaster for decades, an inquiry into the U.K.’s infected blood scandal found Monday. (Jeff Moore/PA via AP)
Infected blood campaigners react as they gather in Parliament Square, ahead of the publication of the final report into the scandal, in London, Sunday, May 19, 2024. The final report of the U.K.’s infected blood inquiry will be published Monday, six years after it started its work. The inquiry heard evidence as to how thousands of people contracted HIV or hepatitis from transfusions of tainted blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. (Aaron Chown/PA via AP)
Victims of UK's infected blood scandal to start receiving final compensation payments this year
Victims of UK's infected blood scandal to start receiving final compensation payments this year
TORONTO (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 31st home run, Gerrit Cole pitched five innings for his first win of the season and the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 on Sunday to split their four-game series.
Juan Soto was a late addition to New York’s lineup after sitting out Saturday’s loss because of a bruised right hand. The three-time All-Star and 2020 NL batting champion went 1 for 3 with an RBI and two walks.
DJ LeMahieu and Trent Grisham each had two hits and two RBIs for the Yankees. Ben Rice scored twice and drove in a run.
Gleyber Torres went 2 for 5, his third straight multihit game since a two-game benching last week.
New York finished a 2-4 trip that started with two losses in Queens against the Mets.
Cole (1-1) started the first of those interleague defeats, allowing six earned runs in four innings. He bounced back against the Blue Jays, permitting one run and three hits — all singles. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner struck out one and walked six. He threw a season-high 90 pitches, 61 for strikes, in his third start this year since returning from an elbow injury.
Michael Tonkin got five outs, Tim Hill retired all four batters he faced and Josh Maciejewski finished for New York.
Soto singled off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in the first and scored when Judge sent a 423-foot drive to center. It was Judge’s fifth career homer off Gausman, the most he’s hit off any opposing pitcher.
Gausman (6-7) allowed a season-worst seven earned runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked a season-high five and struck out seven. The right-hander has lost three of his past four starts.
Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier took a home run away from Alex Verdugo in the eighth, leaping above the center-field wall to make a spectacular catch.
Verdugo was called out on a two-strike pitch clock violation to end the fourth, stranding two.
ROSTER MOVES
New York selected Maciejewski’s contract from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and designated RHP Phil Bickford for assignment.
TORONTO TRADE
The Blue Jays acquired RHP Yerry Rodríguez from Texas for minor league RHP Josh Mollerus. Toronto assigned Rodríguez to Triple-A Buffalo.
TRAINER’S ROOM
New York transferred the rehab assignment of RHP JT Brubaker (elbow surgery) from the rookie-level Florida Complex League to Double-A Somerset.
UP NEXT
Yankees: Rookie RHP Luis Gil (9-3, 3.15 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday as New York returns home to begin a three-game series against Cincinnati. The Reds had not announced a starter.
Blue Jays: RHP Yariel Rodríguez (0-2, 5.94 ERA) starts Monday afternoon in a Canada Day matinee against Houston RHP Hunter Brown (5-5, 4.37).
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
New York Yankees' Ben Rice (93) scores on a single from teammate DJ LeMahieu during the second inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Spencer Horwitz, right, scores on a single by teammate Justin Turner during third-inning baseball game action against the New York Yankees in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman reacts as New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman (34) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
New York Yankees third base DJ LeMahieu, right, and teammate Ben Rice (93) celebrate after scoring on a double by Trent Grisham during fifth-inning baseball game action against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is hit by a pitch during third-inning baseball game action against the New York Yankees in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge is hit by a pitch during fourth-inning baseball game action against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole throws during second-inning baseball game action against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge celebrates as he rounds the bases after his two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
