‘I’ll keep fighting until everyone is compensated’

A woman orphaned when her parents died from HIV eight days apart has vowed to continue campaigning until everyone affected by the infected blood scandal have been compensated.

Lauren Palmer’s father, a severe haemophiliac, received blood clotting product Factor VIII in the late 1970s, unaware it was contaminated.

He tested positive for HIV and went on to infect his wife.

Bristol student Ms Palmer said their deaths “devastated her life.”

On Wednesday , the Government announced an interim compensation payment of £100,000 each for contaminated blood survivors and their partners.

Ms Palmer, a make-up artist currently studying for a forensic science degree in Bristol, said the compensation is “a step forward”, but said there were many families being excluded from the payments.

Now 39, she lost her parents Stephen and Barbara Palmer in August 1993, when she was nine years old.

She said: “Factor VIII was supposed to prolong my father’s life, not take him and my mum prematurely.

“I am doing this [campaigning] because it feels like a duty. I don’t want them to get away with this.

“It’s been a long time getting to this stage. It [compensation] is a step in the right direction.

“There are still a lot of bereaved families excluded, so there is more work for us to do until those families are included.”

Losing both parents resulted in Ms Palmer enduring a “miserable childhood” after being separated from her half-brothers and sent to live with another family, she said.

Kate Burt, chief executive of the Haemophilia Society, echoed Ms Palmer’s views, saying the “majority” of the bereaved are currently left with nothing.

Ms Burt said: “This is a significant development.

“However, the majority of the bereaved, including parents and the children of those who died, will receive nothing.”

The contamination of blood products in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in an estimated 24,00 deaths of patients infected with HIV and hepatitis C.

The catastrophe was labelled the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, with new cases of HIV and hepatitis being diagnosed decades later.

The Government said it intends to make payments to those who have been infected and bereaved partners in England by the end of October. The same payments will be made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “While nothing can make up for the pain and suffering endured by those affected by this tragic injustice, we are taking action to do right by victims and those who have tragically lost their partners by making sure they receive these interim payments as quickly as possible.”

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