A CARLOW woman suffering from hepatitis C is tomorrow likely to obtain an early hearing date for her High Court claim seeking aggravated damages and ordinary damages from the State, the Blood Transfusion Service Board and the National Drugs Advisory Board.
Mrs Mary Quinlan contracted the virus from anti-D immunogobulin she received in 1977 after the birth of one of her eight children. She obtained priority on the court list last December because of her medical condition.
It is understood that an application will be made in the High Court today for a full hearing of her claim, but the date for it is not likely to be set until tomorrow.
The move will increase pressure on the Government although it is possible the issue may be settled if the Cabinet agrees to pay punitive damages to hepatitis C victims. The Cabinet will today consider that issue as part of its discussion of the hepatitis C tribunal of inquiry report.
Government sources indicated that a formal decision on the payment of aggravated damages is unlikely until next week as Ministers may not yet have a report from the Attorney General on the legal implications involved. Should the Government agree as anticipated to aggravated damages, the terms of reference of the Compensation Tribunal under Mr Justice Egan will have to be changed.
Such a development would increase the cost of compensation for the scandal by approximately 10 per cent, from £200 million to around £220 million, according to one source.
Meanwhile, the chairman and chief executive of the Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB) will meet the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, today to explain how a woman infected with hepatitis C through infected anti-D was asked to donate blood as recently as last December.
Mr Noonan wants an explanation as to how such a fundamental mistake could be made by the BTSB after the reorganisation of the board and the introduction of a new donor selection screening process.
RTE last night reported a second case - in March of last year - in which a man received a letter from the BTSB asking him to donate blood even though six months earlier he had been told that because of his wife's infection with hepatitis C, his blood would no longer be needed.
The BTSB chairman, Mr Joe Holloway, and the chief executive, Mr Liam Dunbar, were summoned by Mr Noonan to meet him after Mr Dunbar said "human error is the simple and only explanation for what occurred."
The woman, who lives in Munster, was contacted by telephone on December 3rd last and asked if she would make a donation of blood to a mobile clinic.
The call was made from Pelican House, Dublin, by a woman who works for the BTSB in the evenings.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on health, Mr Brian Cowen, said the latest mistake raised "the most fundamental doubts" about the political response to reforming the BTSB and the conclusion of Mr Justice Finlay that that response was adequate.
News of the incident comes as the Minister prepares to defend himself in a Dail debate on the report of the tribunal of inquiry.