Woman orphaned aged nine due to infected blood scandal to continue compensation fight

A woman whose parents died with HIV when she was just nine say the Government is ignoring her following a decision to compensate only victims of the infected blood scandal.

Lauren Palmer, 38, who lost both her parents, Stephen and Barbara, in 1993, said she and others in her situation will get nothing from the settlement announced by Whitehall.

The couple died just eight days apart, victims of a health scandal which saw around 7,500 people infected with deadly blood-borne diseases.

Lauren’s father was given the infected product Factor VIII to treat his haemophilia and he passed the deadly disease to his wife.

They were among an estimated 2,000 people killed by HIV and Hepatitis C contracted from infected blood products administered by doctors.

A public inquiry, which began in 2018, chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, put forward recent recommendations for quick payments to victims who may soon pass away.

And this week the Government accepted the advice and agreed to give around 4,000 victims whose health is currently failing £100,000 interim payments.

But Lauren, of Bristol, who described the decision “bittersweet”, has called on the government to put in place procedures that recognise victims who have already died.

She said: “It’s bittersweet because it’s great news for some of the people within our community, but it doesn’t help many victims.

“It’s not enough, and the government need to fully consider and take note of the compensation framework that has been advised by Sir Robert Francis, which was put forward back in March.

“It ignores many of the victims such as myself - children who have lost parents and elderly parents who have lost children.”

Lauren described the terrible toll the scandal had taken on her family, saying that her world had been ‘torn apart’ by the tragedy.

She said: “They both died when I was nine years old, eight days apart from each other.

“It literally tore the family apart. I had two older brothers, my mother’s sons from a previous marriage, they went to live with their dad.

“I moved in with my aunt and uncle and we moved to a new town. I was told not to breathe a word about HIV – it was so stigmatised.

“HIV is linked to mental illness – it attacks the brain. Mum became very ill before she died and my middle brother was taken out of school at age 12 to be her primary carer.

“It didn’t stop with their deaths, there was lots of knock-on, which has lasted to this day.

“Mum was fighting for three years for some justice and some help for the family. Sadly, that fell short and she passed away.

“Now I’m older, knowing that my mum had been fighting so long gave me the strength to do it myself – that and the fact that there are so many other families who have been devastated by this.”

Lauren said she felt victims like her were being ignored by the current settlement - and urged the government to act faster.

She said: “The people that have died from this already are not being recognised, and if my mum was infected and still alive, she would qualify for these interim payments too.

“But because both my parents have died, at the moment, they’re not being considered for any recognition or admission of liability. It needs to include everyone.

“We’ve gone through decades of people suffering for many, many years and they’re still not acting with the urgency that’s required.

“The end of the inquiry isn’t for another 18 months, and within that time, one person dies every four days, and that’s a lot.

“Now that’s it been announced, they need to start the ball rolling to include everyone, such as children, parents, carers. They should now start implementing that now.”

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would continue to “stand by” all those impacted by the “horrific tragedy”.

He said: “We will continue to stand by all those impacted by this horrific tragedy, and I want to personally pay tribute to all those who have so determinedly fought for justice.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Kit Malthouse added no amount of payments would compensate for victims’ turmoil.

He said: “Those affected by the infected blood scandal have suffered terribly over many years and that heart-breaking and unimaginable pain has been compounded by the financial uncertainty many have faced.”