Judge says parents and children should receive infected blood payments

The parents and children of victims of the contaminated blood scandal should receive government compensation, a judge has said.

The chairman of the infected blood public inquiry, Sir Brian Langstaff, said it was time to "recognise deaths which have so far gone unrecognised". More than 3,000 people died after contracting HIV or hepatitis C via NHS treatments in the 1970s and 80s.

The government must now respond to the recommendations.

In August 2022, the government agreed to make the first interim compensation payments of £100,000 each to about 4,000 surviving victims, and bereaved widows. 

Sir Brian said, "It is a fact that around 380 children with bleeding disorders were infected with HIV. Some of them died in childhood. But their parents have never received compensation. Children who were orphaned as a result of infections transmitted by blood transfusions and blood products have never had their losses recognised. It's time to put that right."

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Source: BBC News