Ireland: €10 million compensation paid in Hep and HIV contaminated blood product

[Jim Allen]

Headline:
Over €10 million paid in compensation to Hepatitis and HIV contaminated blood victims last year

In full: https://www.thejournal.ie/e10-million-compensation-contaminated-blood-4939034-Dec2019/

In Short:

ONE VICTIM OF contaminated blood products last year received an award of €1.16m from the State.

That is according to the 2018 annual report of the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal which confirms that awards totalling €993 million have been paid out since it was established in 1995.

The tribunal was established to compensate people infected with Hepatitis C as a result of being administered with contaminated Anti D human immunoglobin manufactured by the Blood Transfusion Service Board between 1970 and 1994.

The controversy led to the establishment of the Finlay Tribunal which proved highly critical of the BTSB.

The tribunal’s remit was expanded in 2002 to award compensation to individuals who contracted HIV from certain blood products.

There have been over 470 new diagnoses of HIV in Ireland so far this year
There were 36 awards made by the Tribunal last year and the total amount awarded was €9.8m with the average being €272,848.

The awards range from €35,000 to the €1.16m.

In her report, Tribunal chairperson, Karen O’Driscoll SC said: “The Tribunal has been hearing claims on a continuous basis since March 1996. There were 48 new claims submitted in 2018 making a total of 4,939 to the end of 2018. While the Tribunal paid awards in 52 cases in 2018, approximately 417 initial claims are still awaiting hearing.”

Ms O’Driscoll stated: “The Tribunal continues to be able to assign a hearing date without delay to any claim for which full supporting documentation has been lodged.”