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High Court increases compensation award to woman infected with hepatitis C through contaminated blood product

Summary

In 2015 the High Court, by Mr Justice Bernard Barton, raised a compensation award for a woman who had contracted hepatitis C from a contaminated anti‑D blood product in 1977. The Tribunal had originally awarded €180,000, which the woman appealed as insufficient. The Court increased the award to €250,000, citing the woman's life‑destroying complications, including liver cirrhosis and encephalopathy, and the pain and suffering she endured. The Court noted that the woman had undergone interferon/ribavirin therapy in 2013 after medical advice, which cleared the virus but triggered decompensated cirrhosis and a brain injury. The judge affirmed that the treatment was a medical necessity and that the woman's mental anguish and loss of independence justified the higher compensation. The award was made under the Tribunal's jurisdiction for the woman's suffering.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: High Court increases compensation award to woman infected with hepatitis C through contaminated blood product. Procedural stage: trial

When:

• 2015-10-30 Publication

Why: It was also argued the treatment afforded to the woman was not compensatable because it began before she was diagnosed with what is known as decompensated cirrhosis. CNI source report

Case subjects

Places mentioned

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Stage Trial

Read the original CNI report