Free Republic

London — A book to be published this week says that Britain's Queen Victoria may have been illegitimate, possibly undermining the whole Royal Family's legitimacy, the Sunday Times reported. In his book The Victorians, acclaimed biographer A.N. Wilson alleges that Victoria's mother, Princess Victoire of Leiningen, had a lengthy affair with her Irish-born secretary Sir John Conroy and that he, rather than Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, was Victoria's real father. Buckingham Palace said it would not comment on the allegation. Mr. Wilson based his argument partly on medical data, the newspaper said. Records show that the illness porphyria...

Long before the concept of "designer babies" created in a lab became the stuff of science fiction, inbreeding in royal families was viewed as a way to ensure genetic purity. Intermarriage ensured that no "common" blood sullied pure, aristocratic blood lines. What could go wrong? A lot, actually. Birth defects caused by inbreeding were rampant in royal families from Russia to Portugal and even in ancient Egypt, where the practice of sibling marriage was considered godly behavior. Hereditary diseases caused by inbreeding get handed down through thin gene pools, particularly in the many cases where intentional close marriage is used...

Backers of a change, including Sen. John Kerry, say the policy is outdated medically. Hemophilia groups want to keep it. Federal health officials announced Friday that they would reexamine a 27-year-old set of restrictions on blood donations by gay men. The restrictions, enacted in the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, impose a lifetime ban on men donating blood if they've had sex with another man at any time since 1977. Changes in the rule have been opposed by hemophilia patient groups. People with hemophilia, a bleeding disorder, are heavy users of blood products, and about...

A health care agency founded by a controversial Episcopal "party priest" is under investigation by the state Attorney General's office. Agents from the office of Attorney General Tom Corbett raided New Life Home Care Inc. at 48 S. Main St. in Pittston on Tuesday, removing boxes of documents. "We executed search warrants as part of an ongoing insurance fraud investigation," Corbett's Press Secretary Kevin Harley said. New Life Home Care Inc., founded in 2000 by the Rev. Gregory Malia, 44, of Laflin, provides services for people with bleeding disorders. According to the company Web site, Malia has hemophilia himself and...

TORONTO - Members of Canada's hemophilia community are awaiting a Superior Court judge's verdict Monday in what has been called the worst public health disaster in Canadian history. "At the end of the day, what's important for us is that justice be done and justice be seen to be done," said John Plater of the Canadian Hemophilia Society. "So that's really why we're anticipating tomorrow, and getting a hold of her decision and, in particular, the reasons for her decision." Dr. Roger Perrault, 70, a former national medical director with the Canadian Red Cross, has stood trial with three other...

Saved by 'sand' poured into the wounds 16 March 2006 From New Scientist Print Edition Jessica Marshall Emergency situations require fast-acting treatments DETECTIVE Danny Johnson was on patrol outside Tampa, Florida, when a report came through of a possible shooting in a junkyard three blocks away. Arriving on the scene, he found an elderly man sitting on a tractor, with a large hole in his leg that was bleeding profusely. Realising it would be some time before the ambulance arrived, Johnson opened a packet of sand-like material and poured it into the wound. Within seconds the bleeding had practically stopped,...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Mary Goedken (GED'-ken) of Monticello, the matriarch of an Iowa family that lost eight people to AIDS, has died. She died on Monday at a Monticello nursing home following a brief illness. She was 91. Goedken's family says she had been in declining health since suffering a stroke in December. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, no other family in the U-S is known to have lost more members to AIDS than the Goedkens. Six of her seven sons suffered from hemophilia. One son died of complications from hemophilia in 1971. In the 1980s,...

Tainted-blood victim still feels left out By NICK GARDINER Staff Writer SMITHS FALLS -- Still on the outside looking in. That's how Tina Lyon feels even as the Canadian Red Cross awaits formal sentencing Thursday for distributing tainted blood that left her with hepatitis C after a blood transfusion in 1985. The Red Cross was fined $5,000 after pleading guilty in Hamilton court May 30 to violating the Food and Drug Regulation Act. The agency also agreed to set up a $1.5-million scholarship fund that Lyon hoped could help pay for her son John's second year at Carleton University starting...

A hemophiliac infected as a child, Jay Minish spent his teen years and early 20s fearing love was forever off-limits. But he refused to give up his quest.A chubby-faced Jay Minish pushed the microphone away after his 30-minute speech about living with the virus that causes AIDS. "Do you have a girlfriend?" a female student asked. "Not right now, but I hope to have one real soon," Jay said, flashing his signature grin. "Are you a virgin?" a sweet-looking blonde asked. Some of the teenagers burst into nervous giggles. An adult moderator at the Alpharetta high school told Jay he...

GRANITE CITY, Ill. - Jason Robertson, whose battle to attend school as a boy with AIDS (news - web sites) in the 1980s helped other children with the virus overcome its stigma, has died. He was 23. Robertson died this past Thursday in his mother's home in Granite City. "Until the end, he was more concerned for our feelings than for himself," said Tammie Robertson. "He told me, 'Mom, I'm sorry I made you cry so many times and that I was such a burden.' ... But he was never a burden." Robertson was diagnosed with the virus that causes...

Deadline runs out for blood patients By Auslan Cramb, Scotland Correspondent (Filed: 29/05/2003) Patients who contracted hepatitis C and HIV from contaminated blood products could lose the chance to claim compensation because their medical records have been lost. More than 150 haemophiliacs in Britain are suing American drug companies who supplied the NHS with infected products in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But lawyers representing scores of patients whose records have disappeared, or are incomplete, said they could miss tomorrow's deadline for filing claims against the manufacturers. Without the records, the patients will be unable to prove in an...

News Plan for using US blood sparks new fear     Aug 17 2002   By Amanda Crook, The Journal   The Government was last night forced to defend its plans to use plasma from America for young children as a precaution against the human form of mad cow disease.Blood safety campaigners - whose relatives were infected with HIV and hepatitis from US blood products - say they are worried by the announcement and have little confidence in Department of Health assurances.The product is intended for children born after 1995 as they would not have been exposed to BSE...

SUNDAY EXPRESSPoliticians may face criminal charges over infected blood. EXCLUSIVE BY LUCY JOHNSTON Health Editor FORMER Tory and Labour ministers could face criminal charges over the use of contaminated blood in the NHS which infected thousands with HIV and hepatitis C. The Association of Chief Police Officers is to examine evidence which reveals key health and Treasury officials across two decades ignored repeated warnings that blood products used in the UK were putting lives at risk. Terence Grange, chairman of ACPO’s personal crime division, has written to the Crown Prosecution Service to see if there is enough evidence for...

Medical Council launches blood probe[Posted: Mon 12/08/2002]exclusive by Fergal BowersIn a dramatic development, the Irish Medical Council has served an order on the Blood Bank to hand over documents relating to the hepatitis C infection scandal so that it can conduct a formal inquiry into its former Medical Director, Dr Terry Walsh.Irishhealth.com has learned that the Medical Council, which polices doctors' behaviour, has issued an order on the Irish Blood Transfusion Service under legislation, for documentation produced for the Finlay Blood Tribunal.It is the first time that any person in the blood infection controversy has been ordered to an...

Owen demands inquiry into infected blood scandal James Meikle, health correspondentMonday August 19, 2002The Guardian Lord Owen, who was a Labour health minister from 1974 to 1976, has alleged that maladministration by his former department contributed to the scandal in which thousands of patients became infected by contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 80s. He wants an inquiry into how a promise he made that Britain would be self-sufficient in supplies of clotting factors was not fulfilled and says the government must compensate thousands of people suffering from haemophilia believed to be infected with hepatitis C. The former...

NewsCriminal probe into bad blood considered Aug 14 2002 By The Journal One of the country's top police officers has taken up the case of haemophiliacs who became infected with hepatitis C and HIV through contaminated blood products. Terence Grange, in charge of investigations affecting forces across the country, is now looking at the legal issues involved in a prosecution over the way contaminated blood was used in the NHS. Mr Grange, chief constable of Dyfed-Powys Police and chairman of the ACPO Personal Crime Business Area, is "in charge of any investigations of national importance which affect all forces...

UK Urged to Compensate Hemophiliacs for InfectionTue Jun 18, 2002; 1:29 PM ET By Richard WoodmanLONDON (Reuters Health) - The British government was urged on Tuesday to make £52.6 million available annually for people with haemophilia who were infected with hepatitis C through contaminated blood products. A report from the Haemophilia Society said that from 1969 to 1985, 95% of people with haemophilia were treated with blood products carrying a high risk of infection with hepatitis C. As a result, 2,829 haemophiliacs alive in the country today are infected with the virus. Haemophilia is an inherited blood-clotting disorder. Those with...