Tainted blood scandal victims ‘were not told they had HIV’ as one man reveals he was kept in the dark about his condition for up to two years
- Victims of the contaminated blood scandal were not initially told they had HIV
- Evidence suggests doctors kept a patient in the dark for two years
- Martin Beard said he contracted HIV aged 15 at Birmingham children’s hospital
- But he wasn’t told he had the illness until he visited a hospital in Stoke aged 17
Victims of the contaminated blood scandal were kept in the dark by doctors about contracting the deadly virus HIV, according to new evidence.
One patient has uncovered a letter showing they knew he had the disease for up to two years before telling him.
Martin Beard contracted HIV as a youngster while receiving treatment for the blood disorder haemophilia. He was given Factor VIII – a medicine made from human blood – that was infected with HIV and hepatitis.
He only found out he had HIV during a routine check-up aged 17 at a new hospital, the North Staffordshire hospital in Stoke.
Victims of the contaminated blood scandal were not initially told they had HIV, new evidence suggests. One patient said he found a letter that proves doctors at Birmingham Children’s hospital knew of his diagnosis when he was 15 but he didn’t find out until he visited a different hospital two years later
Mr Beard, now 50, of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, later obtained a letter showing staff at his previous hospital, the Birmingham Children’s, had been aware of the diagnosis for up to two years before.
The accusations will raise concerns of a cover-up over the tainted blood scandal involving NHS staff and Government officials. Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust it was ‘looking into this matter’.
A public inquiry into the scandal begins tomorrow.