Recently, the British media uncovered a medical scandal that took place in the 70-80s of the last century.
Government documents show that some medical facilities and doctors have tested blood products contaminated with the virus.
And their "guinea pigs" are a group of already fragile people - children with hemophilia......
(related reports)
Hemophilia is a bleeding disorder caused by genetic defects in clotting factor VIII and factor IX.
The vast majority of hemophilia patients are male, and they are more likely to bleed and bleed than most people, and the main clinical symptoms are bleeding, pain, and impaired mobility.
In the 70s and 80s of the last century, the blood bank in the United Kingdom was perennially short of blood and needed to import blood products from the United States.
The problem is that these blood products from the United States are not reliable from the source, and some are made from blood donated by prisoners and drug addicts.
Among these people, there are people with hepatitis C (which can lead to chronic necrosis and fibrosis of the liver, and in severe cases, cirrhosis and liver cancer) and HIV infection, and their blood donations are of course contaminated.
However, there is an ingredient in these contaminated blood products that has a prominent coagulation effect and is effective for people with hemophilia......
It is called clotting factor VIII and was first discovered in 1937.
It is produced in hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells and endothelial cells throughout the body, where it circulates in the bloodstream.
Coagulation factor VIII is not affected by liver disease, and factor VIII levels are often elevated in patients with liver disease.
In other words, to safely use blood products containing clotting factor VIII, contaminated blood needs to be filtered.
The question now arises – how safe is it to filter so that hemophilia patients are not infected with the virus in their blood?
In the 70-80s of the last century, a new type of heat treatment (filtration) technology appeared, and pharmaceutical companies began to produce new versions of coagulation factor VIII.
(now coagulation factor VIII plasma)
But it is still unknown how effective the heat treatment will be and whether the virus will remain behind.
In order to understand this problem, some unscrupulous doctors have chosen the following approach:
Fill it with human life.
They knew that there were risks associated with this blood product, but they still chose to use children with hemophilia as test subjects to test its clinical effects.
Doctors transfused the children with hemophilia and their families without informing them of heat-treated versions of blood products.
The massive trial lasted more than 15 years and involved hundreds of children with haemophilia, most of whom were infected with hepatitis C and HIV, and most of whom have now died.
Luke O'Shea-Phillips, 42, is one of the survivors of the medical scandal and suffers from mild hemophilia.
In 1985, 3-year-old Luke suffered a small wound in his mouth that was bleeding profusely and went to Middlesex Hospital in central London for treatment.
Luke had never been treated with a heat-treated version of Factor VIII before, and this time his doctor, Samuel Machin, deliberately injected him with potentially contaminated Factor VIII blood products to stop the bleeding, making him an unwitting test subject.
(Luke, 2 years old)
In a letter to Peter Kernoff, a hemophiliac specialist, Luke's doctor detailed the treatment of Luke and another boy.
A few months ago, the expert Knoff called on fellow doctors to find patients who were suitable for clinical trials.
He asked the test subjects to be children who had "never been treated with clotting factor VIII" (known as PUPs), which were also jokingly referred to as "virgin hemophiliacs."
As a result, the children who were forced to participate in the trial were getting younger and younger, and even a 4-month-old baby became a test subject.
When Luke's doctor found out that he was eligible, he did a test with him and wrote to Knoff:
"I hope they can be used in your heat treatment experiments. ”
The innocent victim, Luke, grew up to understand how cruel the doctor's approach was.
"I was treated like a guinea pig in a clinical trial, and it could kill me. ”
"There is no other way to explain why my treatment regimen was modified, because that would allow me to participate in the trial. ”
"Changing the medication gave me a deadly disease – hepatitis C, and they didn't even talk to my mom about it. ”
"For the scientific community, a virgin hemophilia patient is quite rare. ”
"They're like clean petri dishes, and I'm one of them. ”
(Hemophilia, schematic)
Over the next few years, doctors performed several blood tests on Luke in order to test him for his condition.
Luke's mother didn't know the doctor's true purpose, and took it as a good intention, and was very grateful to the doctor.
In 1987, doctors of hemophilia Knoff and Luke concluded in a trial that heat treatment had "little or no effect" in reducing the risk of hepatitis C.
Both doctors are no longer alive.
Before dying, Luke's doctors provided evidence to the government's investigative team, confirming that Luke had been used as a test subject for Specialist Knoff.
His letter was also presented as evidence to the Government's investigative team.
However, the doctor denied that the trial did not have Luke's mother's consent, but this statement is likely because the doctor took advantage of the loophole.
"I had already discussed this with his mother, although I admit that in the 80s of the 20th century, the standard of 'consent' was very different from that of modern times. ”
Luke's mom disagreed, insisting that she was "absolutely not told".
"For an innocent child who is 3 and a half years old, I wouldn't consider letting them do that. ”
"I would never allow someone to test my child. ”
Moreover, doctors found out that Luke was infected with hepatitis C as early as 1993, but did not inform the patient until 1997.
A medical record showed Luke tested positive with the phrase: "Not discussed with patients or families." ”
Among these "guinea pig" children, Luke was the luckiest, and after a series of treatments, his hepatitis C was cured and he eventually became an adult.
And many of these victims are not so lucky, they don't even know that the doctor's so-called "treatment injection" is actually quenched with poison on it - this is not even a metaphor.
(Healthy liver and hepatitis C-infected liver)
Knoff, the hemophilia specialist mentioned above, also did another study comparing cryoprecipitate material in plasma with coagulation factor VIII concentrate on the infectivity.
Cryoprecipitate is used to treat mild coagulopathy and contains factor VIII, but in lower concentrations and from fewer donors, so it is considered less risky.
Specialist Knoff was looking for test subjects when he found Mark Stewart, his brother and his father.
All three had mild von Villebrand's disease, also known as von Willebrand's disease, in which patients lack clotting factor VIII, which causes prolonged bleeding.
Father and son would normally use cryoprecipitate, but expert Knoff injected them with a concentrate of clotting factor VIII, which caused all three of them to contract hepatitis C.
"Before, we would have a nosebleed once a month, and we were able to do it with cryoprecipitate. ”
Mark's brother and father both died of liver cancer.
No one told them about hepatitis C, so by the time they found out and wanted to be treated, it was too late.
"'Anger' is too much of an understatement," Mark said.
"Dad is the first, my brother is the second, you are the third, you know what will happen next. ”
"There will be no exceptions, that's the law of hepatitis C, and it will come to you. ”
(Mark and his brother)
There is also a school where students pay a terrible price for these trials.
Treloar's College, a special education school near Alton, Hampshire, has a large number of boys with hemophilia.
The school has set up an NHS haemophilia clinic to help haemophilia students get injured and bleeding so they can return to class at any time.
This would have been a good thing, but Anthony Aronstam, the clinic's doctor, was as "ambitious" as his two colleagues mentioned above, and the hemophilia students became his ready-made test subjects.
He injected the students with 3-4 times more clotting factor VIII than the normal dose in children to see if this would reduce the number of bleeding they had.
There is also a so-called "preventive treatment" in which students are given repeated injections of infected factor VIII blood products, followed by blood tests.
His experiments were conducted without the consent of the patient and his parents.
Of the 122 students enrolled at the school between 1974 and 1987, 75 have now died of AIDS or hepatitis C.
(Trelor College)
A student who inadvertently made the test said:
"Even though they knew that the blood products had the hepatitis virus in them, they did that trial and let us use more drugs than we needed. ”
A revealed that if they did not receive the injections in time, they would be penalized at school.
"It means that their trials will be flawed, so we, the kids, are forced to follow the rules. ”
Another student, B, who studied here between 1980 and 1989, said that
"We were treated like guinea pigs. ”
"In the 10 years we were in school, we were all experimented with too much. ”
There is a special case in the case of Trelor College.
The person thought that he had been injected with factor VIII, but in fact the doctor gave them a placebo, which is normal saline.
For children with hemophilia, this practice is actually dangerous.
Student A said, "When you think you've been treated, there is a change in behavior. ”
"You're going to be more like running and jumping and playing wilder in football. ”
"For hemophiliacs, you feel like you can do anything for a short time after injecting the drug. ”
"But if you're using a placebo, you're risking your life. ”
(Trelor College)
Recently, the Trelor College issued a statement in response to the scandal.
"We are waiting for the results of the survey to be released, and we hope that this will give former students the answers they have been waiting for. ”
The government is investigating the medical scandal, which will conclude on May 20.
When the time comes, I really hope that the victims and their families will get the truth......