A patient who claims he was infected with hepatitis C during an operation says he was prevented from receiving compensation because his hospital records were missing.
The Infected Blood Inquiry in Edinburgh heard the patient, known as Mr X, suffered a groin injury working as a logger in south-west Scotland.
This required surgery, during which he said he was given a blood transfusion.
The patient said nurses joked that after his 1976 operation, he would be speaking with an American accent because the blood used for his transfusion came from the US.
After being diagnosed with hepatitis C – which he said could only have come from the operation – he tried to get his medical records from Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary but was told his details could not be found.
Despite support from a GP who backed up his claim that the infection must have come from a contaminated transfusion, attempts to get compensation from the Skipton Fund were rejected.
Mr X was cured after treatment, which he described as “like being napalmed from the inside out”. He called for a strategy which would eliminate hepatitis C once and for all.
