Medical negligence news

Westminster An attempt to compensate and support victims of the "worst-ever treatment disaster in the history of the NHS" was launched in the Lords yesterday.

Lord Morris of Manchester, a former minister for disabled people, likened the suffering of haemophiliacs infected by contaminated blood or blood products to the Black Death.

He said the aim of his Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) Bill was to give "solace and support to arguably the most needful minority in Britain today". He said this comprised a "small and stricken community of barely 5,000 people already disabled by a rare life-long blood disorder, requiring continuous medical treatment".

Opening the Bill's second reading debate, Lord Morris said haemophilia patients had twice been "infected en masse" by contaminated blood with 95 per cent of them infected with hepatitis C and one in four with HIV. The Bill would establish a compensation package for people who have been infected, their widows, dependants and carers.