The mother of a haemophiliac who contracted HIV through contaminated blood products said yesterday she would not have allowed commercial concentrates to be used on her son had she known about the risk of infection.
Using the pseudonym Jackie, the woman said her son, Rory, had been treated in hospital with a safer cryoprecipitate product throughout the 1970s. However, she was persuaded to switch to concentrates because they were more convenient and could be administered intravenously at home.
It was these concentrates which infected Rory with HIV and hepatitis C.
Jackie said she did not want to use the products as she had a phobia about needles. However, she said she began to feel this fear was "letting [Rory] down", and so she was taught to administer the concentrates.
If she knew about the risks, she said she would not have used the concentrates. "I only wanted an excuse not to do it. We had managed for nine years on cryo so we would have continued on with it, and just taken our chances with the cryo."
Jackie also disclosed yesterday that she was informed of her son's infection through a casual remark by a nurse.
While Rory was in hospital in January 1986 for a knee operation a nurse came up to her and said "you know we don't treat Rory any different because he is HIV positive," said Jackie. "It was like getting a kick into the stomach. I was speechless."
Her husband later approached Prof Ian Temperley to ask why there were so many problems with Rory's operation. Prof Temperley replied "he has got the virus," said Jackie. "He just disappeared down the corridor and we were left to deal with it then the best we could."
Rory died in 1995, aged 22.
