A man with haemophilia who attended St James's Hospital in Dublin for routine check-ups was not told for six years that he had hepatitis C, the tribunal heard yesterday.
The witness, who used the pseudonym Albert, was the first to give evidence from behind a screen. He said he attended for check-ups in 1993, 1994, 1995, in April 1999 and June 1999, when a doctor, consulting his notes, asked if hepatitis C was affecting him much. That was the first information he had of his condition.
He said that at some time in the 1960s, when he was about 10 or 12, he had bled for months.
"The only treatment available then was plasma and you had to get pints and pints pumped into you," he said. Then the new Factor 9 concentrate became available and he received small doses of that instead, which was a great improvement.
Up to the 1990s, everything was going fine. He had the full range of blood samples taken at every visit and was tested for HIV and hepatitis C.
Mr Martin Hayden, counsel for the Irish Haemophilia Society, asked what he expected to happen regarding the results of the tests.
"I presumed if they found anything, they would let me know," he said. "I'd be conscious of it all the time for a couple of weeks. I was in a grey area, but then I presumed I was OK until next time."
Mr Hayden asked if after the check-ups in 1993, 1994 and 1995 he had received any details about his test results. Albert said he had not.
He said: "I hadn't been up to St James's for three or four years. My joints were reasonably well but I was tired, lacking in energy, and my wife insisted I should go to St James's and get another check-up."
Mr Hayden said he attended in April 1999 and again in June 1999. Albert told the tribunal: "On the second visit I was informed I had hepatitis C. The doctor informed me. "He was just reading my notes and said, `How are you getting on with the hepatitis C, is it affecting you much?' and this was the first time I knew I had it. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it."
He said the last time he had the tests was in 1995, and he could not understand how he had contracted hepatitis C recently.
"As it turned out, I'd had it since 1993 at least," he said.
Mr Hayden said St James's wrote to his GP in 1993 and told him. `Mr Hayden said there was no complaint against the GP.
Counsel said: "There is a St James's note which says that the `patient is unaware of his hepatitis C status'."
Mr Hayden asked: "Eventually, in June 1999, nearly six years after they knew and you were told, how did you feel?"
"When he told me and asked how it was affecting me, I didn't think I heard much more, I couldn't believe it.
"My main worry was having to come back home and tell my wife," Albert said, and, becoming emotional, told the tribunal: "I was afraid she could be affected as well."
He brought his wife to be tested at the Hepatology Clinic and she was negative.
"I thought of my three children. My son is at an age where he might try using my razor and I was afraid he could have used my razor or my toothbrush or if I'd cut myself in the garden, that they could have had contact with my blood," he said.
He said the geno-type he had, geno-type 5, was very rare. The hospital was not very familiar with it yet, so until they got the full facts they could not give him treatment for it.
Mr Hayden asked him why he had come to the tribunal. "Somebody has to be responsible for letting people know what's going on," he replied.