New offer to HIV victims reported

Almost 60 Irish haemophiliacs infected with HIV from contaminated blood products are believed to be close to reaching a multi-million-pound settlement with the products' manufacturers. A majority of the haemophiliacs, who initiated legal proceedings against three companies in 1992, are understood to have accepted an improved settlement offer which was made in recent weeks.

RTE reported yesterday that the offer was in the order of £3 million, to be divided among the 57 haemophiliacs who took the action. This figure is almost double the previous offer made before the opening of the Lindsay tribunal last year.

Before a deal is reached, lawyers for both sides must agree on an arbitration mechanism under which payments will be decided. Compensation payments are due to average just over £50,000 per person, money which will go to the dependants of haemophiliacs in the case of those who have since died.

The haemophiliacs who will benefit from the action account for just over half of all haemophiliacs infected with HIV through blood products. The tribunal has heard that 105 haemophiliacs were infected, about 60 of whom have since died.

The legal action had been stalled for some years since the High Court ruled in August 1993 that Ireland was the appropriate forum for the case. The haemophiliacs had applied to have their claims heard in New York courts under US law.

The three companies named in the action were Armour Pharmaceutical Company, Pennsylvania, which has since been taken over by Aventis; Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Illinois; and Myles Laboratories, Indiana, which has since been bought out by the Bayer Group.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health has announced that legislation allowing for additional compensation to all haemophiliacs infected with HIV will be introduced in the next Dail session.