Posted on 06/14/2004 6:26:46 AM PDT by Clive
OTTAWA (CP) - A Conservative government would compensate the so-called "forgotten victims" of the tainted blood scandal, says a party spokesman.
The promise, which is being welcomed by victims' representatives, would resolve a bitter dispute still festering a decade after thousands of Canadians were infected with hepatitis C by contaminated blood.
At issue is the Liberal government's decision to exclude victims infected before 1986 or after 1990 from a $1.2 billion federal-provincial compensation package announced in March, 1998.
Discriminating among victims depending on the date they were infected is morally indefensible, said Grant Hill, adviser to Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, in an interview.
Hill said that extending compensation to the excluded victims would not require any new spending because there is still about $1 billion left in the compensation fund.
"The money that was set aside for victims within the (1986-1990) window period is plenty sufficient to pay those outside the window," said Hill. "It's not going to add a burden to the taxpayer."
At the time of Commons debate over compensation, then-health minister Allan Rock maintained there was nothing the government could have done before 1986 to prevent contamination of the blood supply.
Since then it has been established that a test available in the early 1980s could have dramatically slowed the spread of the virus. Top U.S. blood experts recommended using the test in 1981, and Canadian officials were aware of this.
Rock also warned during the debate that compensating all victims could bankrupt medicare. He estimated there were about 44,000 tainted-blood victims with hepatitis C; 20,000 within the window of eligibility, and 22,000 outside it.
More than four years after the program was announced, a total of 8,968 claims have been approved, including family members of deceased victims, and only $371 million of the $1.02 billion has been paid out.
"They guessed at the numbers," said Hill. "It's very obvious that the number of patients that they calculated were far in excess of those really in existence. It's very, very obvious that there's plenty of money for helping everyone."
David Harvey, a lawyer who works with hepatitis C victims, welcomed the Conservative promise.
"I'm pleased to hear it," Harvey said. "The key really is to have it done soon. People are having to go without drugs because they can't afford them. I've talked to people who are seriously worried about losing their house due to the hardship they're in due to the disease.
"Getting this issue solved quickly would be a great relief for those people. They have enough to worry about without having the sheriff banging on the door."
Drug therapy for hepatitis C has improved considerably in recent years, and can eliminate the virus in a significant number of cases, but the drugs are very expensive.
Mike McCarthy, who has long campaigned for equal compensation of all victims, said the Conservative policy would bring an end to several class actions that have been brought by victims.
"What we really want to see is people and getting equal help. You've got a billion dollars sitting in the fund and all you've got to do is say, 'We'll commit to the courts to make this issue go away."'
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I wonder why I don't see anything about billy jeff clinton or Arkansas state prisons in this article?
Now as I recall it came from ARKANSAS prisons when one William Jefferson Blythe Clinton (aka; Willard, Billy Jeff, the Bent One, the Sink Emperor, etc.) was governor. I also seem to recall that he signed something (like a gov's EO) that prohibited the testing of said blood of HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis, and other little nasty killer blood contaminants!
Along with the people who got the bright idea to sell prison blood internationally after the US had condemned it for domestic use,
And the nice people at Connaught Laboratories who did not know, and made no effort to find out, that the ADC on the bags meand Arkansas Department of Corrections before they used the blood to make Factor 8.
And the Red Cross for putting its budget concerns ahead of the cost of adopting known techniques for screening and treating the blood.
The list is endless.
Mark for later reading...
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