Scottish infected blood victims ‘studied without their knowledge’

The inquiry found that as Scottish doctors became aware of the risks of using a blood clotting treatment called Factor VIII, they did not inform their patients and instead carried out research.

Many became infected after receiving blood transfusions on the NHS, others through treatment for haemophilia.

Unlike in the rest of the UK, the vast majority of infections in Scotland came from blood donations from within the country.

Medics here did not have to rely on commercial products from the United States.

In the 1970s and 80s, the country was largely self-sufficient in blood products, while the Protein Fractionation Centre in Edinburgh had the capacity to process blood plasma to manufacture treatments for haemophilia or certain forms of immune deficiencies.

In his final report, inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said patients in Edinburgh and Glasgow were not initially informed about the risks of Factor VIII, with doctors instead opting to study the patients.

The report said the so-called “Edinburgh Cohort” was among the most studied group of patients in the world, because they were infected by a single batch of Factor VIII, under the care of Prof Christopher Ludlam.

The report concluded that his patients should have been told they were being studied, and about the results of the research, but they were “kept in the dark”.