‘My lawyer told me to sign it before I die’

ADRIAN, who is in his 50s and lives in the West Midlands, is one of just 240 victims with both HIV and hepatitis C still alive.

He has haemophilia and was told by his doctor he had been infected an ‘incalculable’ number of times with the viruses through Factor VIII injections in the 1970s and 1980s.

He found out he had HIV when he was in his early 20s and began taking legal action against the Department of Health and local health bodies alongside 1,240 haemophiliacs who also had the virus.

But in 1991, he was urged by his solicitors to sign a contract – a ‘waiver’ – promising to end the legal action in return for £24,000.

Adrian, who does not want to disclose his full identity due to the stigma of HIV, said he believed his solicitors were ‘leant on’ by the department to persuade all patients to accept the money.

He said: ‘Myself and my wife had to go to our solicitor and he told us there was an ex-gratia payment, but it wouldn’t be paid if one person didn’t sign this particular bit of paper. There was 1,243 of us initially infected.

‘You were made to feel guilty that if you didn’t sign it then nobody else would get the money either. At the time people were dying and they were severely ill. We were really press-ganged into it.

‘The solicitor told me that a court case would drag this out and I wouldn’t see the end of it.’

At the time, Adrian didn’t know he had hepatitis C, although the Department of Health was fully aware that all victims had been infected with the virus.

He said he was puzzled as to why the document mentioned hepatitis – when he thought he only had HIV – but he didn’t pursue the matter further.

‘I was having to get my house in order and prepare to die. It seemed like signing this thing was no other option. My solicitor said to me if this goes to court you won’t see it through – you’ll be dead.’