Blood contamination scandal killed both parents of woman
Over the course of just eight days, Lauren Palmer’s life was torn apart.
Aged just nine, the little girl watched her father, then her mother die from HIV.
Tragically, it was completely avoidable as her father, Stephen Palmer, was one of the 2,000 innocent victims of the NHS contaminated blood scandal.
Mr Palmer, a haemophiliac, was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C during a transfusion and unknowingly passed it on to his wife, Barbara.
Yesterday, Miss Palmer, now 33, said the government needs to be held accountable for the scandal which tore her family apart.
The make-up artist, who lives in Bristol, said: ‘It literally destroyed my family. I had two half-brothers so I was separa ted from them when my parents died.
Miss Palmer's parents were two of the 2,000 victims of the NHS contaminated blood scandal
Her mother Barbara caught HIV from her haemophiliac husband Stephen who was infectedÂ
‘They went to live with their father in Wiltshire and I went to live with my mum’s sister, my auntie and uncle, in West Sussex. They had guardianship of me so I moved in with them and they took care of me.
‘I stayed in touch with my brothers but it was difficult because I lived an hour-and-a-half to two hour drive from them.’
Tragically, her maternal grandfather committed suicide shortly after her mother passed away aged 39 in 1993.
Miss Palmer added: ‘He doted on my mum. He found it very difficult to cope with her death and ultimately took his own life.’
Barbara was just 39 when she died from HIV-related illness, her husband Stephen was 34
The death of her mother, pictured with her here, triggered her grandfather's suicide
Blood was from 'high risk' groups
Miss Palmer, who is originally from Wiltshire, told how her father was given a product called Factor VIII, which was extracted from donors’ blood, to treat haemophilia.
The NHS was low on supplies, so Factor VIII was imported from the US, where it was often taken from high-risk groups including drug addicts, prostitutes and prisoners who had donated their blood for cash.
An estimated 7,500 people contracted hepatitis as a result, and many were also infected with HIV. Up to 2,000 died and others were left with severe health problems.
Miss Palmer said: ‘It happened in 1993. My dad was given Factor VIII n ot knowing that it was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C.
‘He then also passed it on to my mother and they both died when I was nine years old, within eight days of one another.
‘My dad had known for eight years that he had HIV but my mum was only told shortly before her death.
‘When she was diagnosed she had Burkitt Lymphoma, which is a late stage AIDS. She’d obviously had it longer but hadn’t been diagnosed with it.’
Mr Palmer was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and died eight years later, aged 34.
Calls for a public inquiry
Miss Palmer says she wants the Government to provide answers on how it happened
Miss Palmer has backed the Mail’s call for a full public inquiry.
She said: ‘I’ve now found out that my mum wanted justice and was fighting for a few years before she passed away and I’ve got that drive to really continue that for her and to have someone made accountable for this.
‘We need to have a public inquiry. My mum was aware that my dad had HIV so was trying to fight but wasn’t aware that she had been infected as well.
‘I think she wanted someone to be held accountable, I think she just feared for me and my brothers that they weren’t going to be around for us so it was really a case of trying to make sure our family could live with this afterwards.
‘But there’s been so support system, we’ve been failed by this and living with it as a family afterwards.’
My parents' mental anguish
Miss Palmer also told how her parents suffered from mental health problems while trying to cope with the effects of the illness.
She said: ‘I found out a lot dealing with this. My mum became very mentally ill with it and had a drinking problem because of it, which I remember hugely impacted me.
‘I think she was sectioned twice and my middle brother had to care for her. I think he was 12 years old. So both of their education suffered as a result of it.
‘I was never able to go near my father, I was always kept at a safe distance away from him because if I knocked him with his blood condition he would bleed to death. He had qu ite a severe case. So I was never very close to my dad.
‘I’ve also since found out that the HIV can affect the brain which is why a lot of people suffer with mental illness with it also.
‘My dad had a lot of anger issues and was quite abuse to family while growing up, I remember that, that’s quite a poignant memory.
‘I was very young so a lot of this was kept from me. I remember having to deal with my parents’ death but as a child you’re quite resilient to things so I just got on with it and I always did quite well at school but I think it’s because I buried myself in that as an escape from having to deal with everything.’
She added: ‘Everybody’s families have gone through absolute trauma and devastation so it’s not just me, it’s the fact that so many other people have been affected by it that need that closure and justice and someone to be made accountable for it. The government need to be held to account.’
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