During the inquiry, which opened yesterday, victims spoke of how they have been administered a \u201cdeath sentence\u201d<\/em> upon learning they have been infected with HIV or hepatitis C, following routine treatment. Many of the victims were only informed years after, having already infected partners or even their own children.<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Thatcher cabinet tried to \u2018cover up\u2019 role in 2,400 deaths from AIDS, Hepatitis C \u2013 documents<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Some 2,500 people died as a result of the contaminated blood. The samples were imported from the US and were used to treat thousands of Britons throughout the 1970s and into the 80s. The blood was mainly given to haemophiliacs, though those who required transfusions following complications during childbirth were also involved.<\/p>\n The inquiry\u2019s chairman, Sir Brian Langstaff a former High Court judge, said the scandal was the worst in the NHS\u2019 history.<\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a truly sobering thought that if some claims are well-founded \u2014 and it will be for this inquiry to find out if they are \u2014 there may yet be many thousands more who do not feel well, but have not yet been told that the reason is that they suffer from hepatitis C\u2026 The consequences of what happened then may be continuing to cause death even now,\u201d<\/em> Sir Brian said.<\/p>\n One of the chief aims of the inquiry is to ascertain how many were infected. Sir Brian solemnly stated that some estimates stretch as far as \u201c25,000\u201d<\/em> warning that this may be proven correct.<\/p>\n The Infected Blood Inquiry is expected to last 15 months. It opened with testimonies from victims who detailed the deaths of loved ones and the \u201cdevastation\u201d<\/em> wrought upon them.<\/p>\n The infected blood packages were sourced in the US from prisoners and drug addicts, many of whom were paid to donate.<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Health secretary failed to reveal severity of NHS mail blunder that \u2018put patients\u2019 lives at risk\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The inquiry will also examine if \u201cthere have been attempts to conceal details of what happened\u201d<\/em> as medical details and other crucial documents are currently missing.<\/p>\n A litany of high profile figures are expected to testify, with many even calling for former Prime Minister Sir John Major to give evidence.<\/p>\n Like this story? Share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Subscribe<\/a> to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won\u2019t tell you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tens of thousands of Britons could be living with deadly viruses after being given contaminated blood imported from the US decades ago, an inquiry into the NHS blood scandal heard. During the inquiry, which opened yesterday, victims spoke of how they have been administered a \u201cdeath sentence\u201d upon learning they have been infected with HIV […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":365561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-378524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n ![\"Bodybuilders](\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2018.06\/thumbnail\/5b22496cfc7e9345658b463b.jpg\")
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