Group Litigation over contaminated blood products
Steven Snowden KC (instructed by Collins solicitors) was successful on 26/09/17 in obtaining a group litigation order from the Senior Master on behalf of a considerable number of those who were directly injured by contaminated blood products and on behalf of the relatives and dependants of a number of those who have died. The litigation arises out of the use in the 1970s and 1980s of blood products which were infected with hepatitis C and HIV, as a result of which more than 4,500 people contracted one or both of those illnesses.
A written judgment is not yet available.
In July 2017, after years of cross-party campaigning, the Prime Minister announced a public inquiry into the scandal, describing it as “an appalling tragedy which should simply never have happened” but the nature and scope of the inquiry have yet to be finalised so the litigation and the inquiry may run in parallel.
