Day 186 of The Tribunal
TRIBUNAL OF INQUIRY Friday 9th November 2001 Day 186 Today, James was due to give personal testimony evidence to the Tribunal. However, he was too ill to attend and his statement was read into the record of the Tribunal by Mr. Bradley, Solicitor for the Irish Haemophilia Society. In his statement, James described how he had undergone a living hell as a result of his treatment for Hepatitis C. He had been put on Interferon treatment twice. He said that on the first occasion in 1994, the side effects nearly killed him. He suffered from fevers, mood swings and missed out on schooling. He said in 1999 he went on the treatment again, as a result of which he lost his wife and had to be treated with anti-depressants. James did not response to the treatment on either occasion. He said in his statement that he now faced the horror of going on the treatment for a third time. He said that all his ambitions and his career prospects had been wrecked by his infection with Hepatitis C. James described how his brother, Mark, had been infected with HIV through the use of non-heat treated BTSB factor IX, and had subsequently died of an AIDS-related illness.
