Contaminated blood survey: anger after the death of a boy, 7 years old, AIDS

Parents of a young AIDS victim spoke of abuses suffered by the family during a public inquiry into the tainted blood scandal.

Colin Smith, a hemophiliac, died at the age of seven in 1990 after receiving infected blood products.

Colin and Janet learned in the hospital corridor that he had been infected with HIV at the age of two.

They then suffered many abuses, including graffiti etched on the side of their house.

Fire Arthur Bloom, their consultant, learned that they were upset after hearing the news of their youngest son and saw them in a private room.

"But the harm was done," said Ms. Smith. "He told us in the hallway."

Mr. Smith, from Newport, added, "He says," HIV, he's one of the few unlucky ones. "We badumed that there was one out of two cases, but he did not. proves that there are thousands of them. "

Smith said the TV AIDS awareness campaign at the time also had a "devastating" impact, and that the news was broadcast locally.

"We started writing" Aids – dead "on the house, not small letters, letters 6 feet high on the side of the house, crosses on the door, a vandalized car.

"People who were walking on the street and threatening to take their children out of school if Colin was going there, it was devastating."

Mr. Smith said that there were constant phone calls "day and night". He lost his job after the diagnosis because his boss was afraid of losing clients. He was perceived as "unemployed", while their children – Colin was the youngest of the four – were known as "AIDS-affected children" at school and had themselves been victims of violence.

Ms. Smith said that Colin's friends at school were "handsome" and that teachers were supportive, but that parents were a problem.

Hearings are taking place in Cardiff this week as part of an investigation into the tainted blood scandal in the UK.

At least 300 victims in Wales have been diagnosed with chronic or life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis or HIV after receiving contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Smiths said in the investigation, "We need justice" and they are still "angry" about the events that led to his death.

They believe that it was used as part of a blood product test without their consent.

The investigation revealed that Professor Bloom, a consultant hematologist at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and one of the leading British experts, wrote that hepatitis virus infection poses a risk to people with hemophilia. but this has never been communicated to the Smiths.

Ms. Smith said, "We just believe the doctors, he was like a god for us, Professor Bloom."

In their statement to the investigation, they claimed to believe that he had been deliberately targeted to test blood products.

His parents said that he loved life, that he was brave and that he never complained, but they believed that he knew he was going to die.

His mother once said, after an argument with his brother, that he said, "I'll miss you when I'm gone, you can have all my toys."

Ms. Smith added, "We want people to know that the children have been taken away, it has taken lives, people maimed, maimed so horrible things, we need justice, we need something done to We're thinking maybe we're going somewhere for the first time in all these years. "

Sir Brian Langstaff, former High Court Judge, and his investigation are intended to shed light on what is wrong.

He has already heard testimony in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.