28 September 2022: Panel of Hepatitis B infectees - A

The third Panel was made up of people who had been infected with Hepatitis B (HBV). This must be one of the most ignored or neglected branches on the contaminated blood extended family tree. This writer anticipated a case of professionals minimising the impacts of HBV, and of gazumping by the big brother that is Hep C, collectively causing those infected on the B-side to not be listened to nearly as much as the flip-siders (© Analogies-R-Us).

The first witness required an operation which resulted in the chances of her becoming a mother becoming very slim. She had been trying to become pregnant, so went down the adoption route. Surprisingly, she did fall pregnant. Haemorrhaging became a risk that did happen and so she had to be delivered by Caesarean Section. She was transfused as part of the process. The witness suffered significant ill-health such as sickness, brain fog, feeing drained all the time, and more – all the familiar signposts to those who know. Nine years later she received a letter from Law Hospital (the West of Scotland regional blood transfusion centre). It informed her that she had been infected by Hepatitis B. On meetings following that letter, she was asked about drug use and promiscuous sex. The message she kept getting was that she should be grateful, despite the HBV, since the transfusion had saved her life. The witness was referred to the Brownlee Infectious Diseases Centre. Since this period, she described her health as “quite lucky” but then went on to list a catalogue of symptoms which she must have normalised and so minimised herself since these were not inconsiderable. She went through the menopause very early. The witness remains a HBV carrier, so sees herself as a risk to others. In relation to her mental health, she was very focused on the worry about infecting others. Along with the brain fog the HBV status cost the witness her marriage, and she has avoided other relationships since. It is just something she does not talk about. The witness had some terrible incidents of medical professionals making an issue of her not highlighting her HBV carrier status, even though she had mentioned it when being admitted and so it was in the notes, but both a doctor and on a different occasion a nurse raised their voices to berate her publicly for being a risk in a vascular ward and then for potentially infecting the nurse and therefore the nurse’s children. On the second occasion the witness had been in a bed next to someone she knew. The experiences were horrendous to endure. The witness has had major problems with obtaining affordable insurance, and to a large extent has had to have no or greatly restricted expensive cover. There have never been any opportunities offered for psychological support.

The second witness had an impediment to her speech due to a recent problem with her tongue which required surgery. She was accompanied by her husband who could interpret for her when required. The initial questioning was very difficult to hear due to the desire of the Inquiry to allow the witness to say her evidence. At the time of giving birth to her daughter she experienced heavy bleeding which requires a lot of transfused blood, followed shortly thereafter by a hysterectomy. Not long after that there was a cancer diagnosis involving chemotherapy, another surgery and more transfused blood. Due to the obvious difficulties in speaking and hearing, a break was called to see if there was a way to better support the witness.