Unspeakable: The contaminated blood scandal

[Sheep]

Do you remember it? You may if you live here in Canada. It was in the 1980s when tainted blood was being transfused in Canada, spreading AIDS and Hepatitis C with it, and many felt the health system had failed to protect them. It was an unspeakable tragedy that, I can only imagine, leaders in the blood industry today would rather that people forget. I remember it, even though I wasn't even baptized yet.

 

An eight-part miniseries Unspeakable began on the CBC a couple of weeks ago dramatizing that scandal that so far is very moving. Look at the information about the series on the CBC website (scroll down to About the Series) and the Toronto Star. The series trailer can be seen here.

 

All episodes are being posted on the CBC website after their initial broadcast.

 

After looking at this, you will be even more glad you are in the truth!

[tekmantwo]

I do remember that,  kinda vaguely...

[Cool Cat]

This is really hitting the news here in the UK after the enquiry here.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-69025640

[Mike047]

The 'hidden' things in the UK, from Post office to contaminated blood, are now coming out in the public domain. The UK authorities have a lot of explaining to do.

[Sheep]

3 hours ago, Cool Cat said:

This is really hitting the news here in the UK after the enquiry here.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-69025640

Thanks for resurrecting a five-year-old topic! I still recall seeing the Canadian series mentioned in the OP. Perhaps the same kind of fury will come up in the UK after this!

 

Note: Some of the links in the OP are no longer good. If you would like to see the series mentioned there, go to this link where all eight episodes can be seen. It will ask you to create a free account.

[Cool Cat]

Here in the UK there is uproar about the cover up by the government in relation to the contaminated blood products used on patients

 

"More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated products - about 3,000 have since died".

 

"The infected blood inquiry has concluded that the scandal could and should have been largely avoided

 

The inquiry's final report says that patients were knowingly exposed to "unacceptable risks"

 

The five-year investigation also accuses doctors, the government and NHS of trying to cover-up what happened

 

Sir Brian Langstaff, the report's author, says people "put their faith in doctors and in the government... and their trust was betrayed".....

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-69025640

 

 

[Cool Cat]

On 5/20/2024 at 4:00 PM, Mike047 said:

The 'hidden' things in the UK, from Post office to contaminated blood, are now coming out in the public domain. The UK authorities have a lot of explaining to do.

Unfortunately this Scandal would have effected those brothers and sisters that accepted the clotting factor viii fraction derived from the contaminated pooled plasma.

[Doug]

On 5/27/2024 at 1:32 PM, Cool Cat said:

Unfortunately this Scandal would have effected those brothers and sisters that accepted the clotting factor viii fraction derived from the contaminated pooled plasma.

 

Every medical decision comes with risk.

 

I like to remember the medical business is a For Profit enterprise.  Let the buyer beware.

[Mike047]

On 5/27/2024 at 9:32 PM, Cool Cat said:

clotting factor viii fraction

The factor viii was produced by combining plasma from multiple donors, and then extracting the clotting factor. The data suggests that maybe 60,000 donors were used for this procedure, but it would only need one donor to be infected.