UK-Prime Minister Apologizes for Tainted Blood Scandal That Infected Thousands in '70s, '80s

LONDON— British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday apologized to thousands of patients who were infected from contaminated blood during the 1970s and 1980s.

Tainted government blood products and transfusions infected an estimated 2,500 people with the hepatitis C virus and HIV from 1970 to 1991. The scandal has been called the worst treatment disaster in the history of Britain's public health care system.

Cameron's apology came after a six-year official inquiry was completed. The probe said more should have been done to screen blood and donors in the early 1990s, and that the collection of blood from prisoners should have stopped earlier.

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UK: Lesley Hughes now demanding apology for blood transfusion scandal blighting thousands of patients

At risk: Lesley Hughes who found out just last year she contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion. 

It was the blood that was supposed to give her life.

However, the 61-year-old says that blood has given her a death sentence after discovering just last year by chance that it infected her with the deadly virus hepatitis C. 

Last week the couple from the New Forest travelled to London where the issue was debated in parliament with MPs calling for a long-awaited national public apology and final settlement ahead of the results of a public inquiry into the scandal being published in March.

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