£50,000 award for woman infected by blood products

TWO WOMEN who are terminally ill with hepatitis C have received awards from the Government appointed tribunal set up to deal with claims from people infected as a result of receiving contaminated blood products.

The two cases, heard early last month, were the first to be dealt with by the tribunal, which was appointed by the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan. Hearings of further cases are expected to begin in the second week of March.

One of the women was awarded £50,000 and the second is to receive a slightly smaller undisclosed amount. It is understood that there were other "complicating factors" in the two cases. On that basis, the awards related to the hepatitis C elements of the illnesses. The cases were given a priority hearing by the tribunal because the two women are gravely ill.

The chairman of the Irish Haemophilia Society, Mr Brian O'Mahony, confirmed yesterday that the case of one of the society's members had been heard. "We are happy that the tribunal dealt very expeditiously with the case of one of our members who is very seriously ill", he said.

About 150 members of the Irish Haemophilia Society have contracted hepatitis C.

The tribunal is composed of a judge and two senior counsel. Advertisements have been placed in newspapers in recent days seeking applications from people who have contracted hepatitis C from Anti D immunoglobulin or other blood products.

Positive Action, a support group for women infected with hepatitis C from Anti D immunoglobulin, has consistently criticised the tribunal as "flawed and unfair".

A spokeswoman, Ms Jane O'Brien, said yesterday that the privacy of the people concerned and their families had to be respected, but she repeated the group's criticism of the tribunal. Positive Action has advised its members to take a "twin track approach" by lodging individual writs in the High Court and applying to the tribunal.

Ms O'Brien said that Positive Action had written to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking him to investigate cases relating to the Blood Transfusion Service Board, which admitted in February, 1994, that a number of women who received Anti D from the board between 1970 and 1991 could have contracted the hepatitis C virus. Since then, more than 1,000 women have tested positive to hepatitis C antibodies, more than 420 have tested positive to the virus itself and up to 40 have received treatment for liver damage.