Hope for families of hep C victims
1 Jun 05
Health committee votes to lift restrictions on hepatitis C payouts
Relatives of all hepatitis C sufferers infected by contaminated blood products in Scotland could be able to claim compensation, after a defeat for the Executive in the Scottish Parliament's Health Committee.
Hundreds of Scots have already received payouts of between £20,000 and £45,000 under the Skipton Fund scheme pledged by UK and Scottish Ministers on 29 August 2003.
However relatives of those who died before that date were not allowed to claim, nor were dependants of those who died after 5 July 2004 if the sufferer had not applied while alive.
Yesterday the Health Committee backed moves to scrap the restrictions, despite Executive opposition, enabling the relatives of all those infected through NHS blood products in Scotland to make a claim.