The discussion is chaired by Sarah Norcross (Director of PET), with contributions from:
⚫ Professor Abha Maheshwari (Lead Clinician at Fertility Scotland)
⚫ Professor Marc Turner (Director of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service)
⚫ Professor Emma Cave (Member of the Medical Ethics Expert Group at the Infected Blood Inquiry)
⚫ Professor Bobbie Farsides (Member of the Medical Ethics Expert Group at the Infected Blood Inquiry)
The UK's infected blood scandal is widely regarded as one of the country's worst ever treatment disasters. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, tens of thousands of people in the UK were infected – predominantly with HIV and Hepatitis C, in some instances with other infections including Hepatitis B and Hepatitis D – as a result of being given blood, or blood products or other tissue, that was contaminated.
Most of the infections were contracted either from blood transfusions (in circumstances including childbirth, surgery and treatment for injury) or from treatments for bleeding disorders (such as haemophilia). More than 3,000 deaths have been attributed to these infections, and it has been reported that as many as 140,000 relatives of people infected could seek compensation under new laws.
In this podcast, experts in assisted conception and in blood and tissue donation – plus members of the Medical Ethics Expert Group appointed to advise the Infected Blood Inquiry – explore what the fertility sector might learn from the infected blood scandal, from the Infected Blood Inquiry's final report and from the accompanying report focusing on medical ethics.
PET is grateful to the Scottish Government for supporting this discussion.
PET is also grateful to Jon Nicoll, who created the opening and closing music for its podcast.
Register at https://www.progress.org.uk/events/upcoming-events/ for upcoming PET events.
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