Haemophiliacs treated with infected blood (FOI)

Request 

When in the early 1980's it became apparent that much of the factor 8 used to treat haemophiliacs was infected, did the Consultant Haematologist unilaterally decide not to inform patients that they may have been infected with life changing and life threatening, potentially communicable diseases, or was this a government led decision?

Response 

Health and Community Services have been unable to identify confirmation of any such decision, as suggested, as having been taken at all. Therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

For your information, we refer you to the below links to responses to States questions from 2019 relating to blood or blood products, in date order that they were asked. These are already in the public domain: 

Written Question to the Minister for Health and Social Services 241/2019 (statesassembly.gov.je) 

Written Question to the Minister for Health and Social Services 268/219 (statesassembly.gov.je) 

Oral Question to the Minister for Health and Social Services 156/2019 (statesassembly.gov.je) 

Written Question to the Minister for Health and Social Services 292/2019 (statesassembly.gov.je) 

Article Applied 

Article 3 - Meaning of "information held by a public authority"

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.