“My mum learned how to do the injections and did them all at home,” she said. “She blamed herself to the day she died because she gave the injections that killed them. My mum and dad never got over it. They were brilliant parents and loved those boys.”
What an awful thing to live with, and all due to corporate negligence yet again. I'm sad it's taken so long for any hope of justice, but I hope it brings the victims some peace.
When Roger Newman was just 10 years old, doctors told his parents that his haemophilia could now be treated with a commercial blood product promoted by the drug industry as a wonder treatment.
These commercial blood factor VIII protein treatments, introduced in the UK for Roger and others in the 1970s, seemed like a lifeline for those suffering with haemophilia – but they were contaminated with HIV and hepatitis.
Roger, who lives and was brought up in Kent, was first infected with hepatitis B by the dirty blood product, becoming so weak with jaundice he needed to be carried around by his mother.
In a statement to the infected blood inquiry, he said: “We didn’t really talk about the fact my father was dying, but I remember my parents were worried about would happen to me.
Barrie died aged 48 on 26 August 1989 as a result of HIV infection carried by the factor VIII products.
They say the infected blood inquiry, which is due to report next month, has been a painful experience, but they hope it will expose the scale of the tragedy and the negligence which led to so many deaths.
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