Death in the Blood: the most shocking scandal in NHS history from the journalist who has followed the story for over two decades
‘A gripping narrative, strengthened by Wheeler’s longstanding connection to the story’ Financial Times
‘Moving, angering’ The Times
The definitive account of the NHS infected blood scandal from Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards 2024
In the 1970s and 1980s almost 5,000 haemophiliacs were infected with HIV or hepatitis C after being given contaminated NHS blood products. So far more than 2,800 people are known to have died in what has been described as the ‘worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS’.
Sunday Times political editor Caroline Wheeler has been reporting on the scandal for two decades. She has been pivotal to the campaign for justice for the victims, whose stories form the heart of this book. As the long-running Infected Blood Inquiry delivers its final verdict Death in the Blood is an unforgettable epic of human suffering, loss and survival against the odds.
‘Caroline has been so supportive to the victims and survivors of the NHS contaminated blood scandal. She has been an integral part of our long fight for justice and enabled people like me to speak out with confidence, when there was little confidence before’ Ade Goodyear, former pupil at Treloar School
‘Moving, angering’ The Times
The definitive account of the NHS infected blood scandal from Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards 2024
In the 1970s and 1980s almost 5,000 haemophiliacs were infected with HIV or hepatitis C after being given contaminated NHS blood products. So far more than 2,800 people are known to have died in what has been described as the ‘worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS’.
Sunday Times political editor Caroline Wheeler has been reporting on the scandal for two decades. She has been pivotal to the campaign for justice for the victims, whose stories form the heart of this book. As the long-running Infected Blood Inquiry delivers its final verdict Death in the Blood is an unforgettable epic of human suffering, loss and survival against the odds.
‘Caroline has been so supportive to the victims and survivors of the NHS contaminated blood scandal. She has been an integral part of our long fight for justice and enabled people like me to speak out with confidence, when there was little confidence before’ Ade Goodyear, former pupil at Treloar School
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Reviews
This book should rock Whitehall to its foundations. It shows it was complicit in a criminal cover-up on an industrial scale lasting five decades. It should prompt major changes to the way Britain is run - starting with a duty of candour on all public servants.
This is crusading journalism at its best. Caroline Wheeler, a rookie reporter in Birmingham, hearing that contaminated blood transfusions had given hepatitis and HIV to a haemophiliac began to campaign for justice and has continued today as Political Editor of The Sunday Times. This book chronicles the long campaign, the denials and obstruction and why the Infected Blood Inquiry will soon bring some comfort to sufferers and their families.
This is the definitive analysis of the worst health scandal in British history. The terrifying lengths that the state went to to hide this outrage should chill us all. Wheeler's compassion in her approach to the horror she uncovered will stay with me forever.
Caroline shines a fierce light on the darkest of episodes. This is an important account based on years of meticulous investigation. It exposes the shame of how some of the most vulnerable were failed - and reveals the long fight to give a voice to those whose pain was silenced.
Caroline has been so supportive to the victims and survivors of the NHS contaminated blood scandal. She has been an integral part of our long fight for justice and enabled people like me to speak out with confidence, when there was little confidence before
A gripping narrative, strengthened by Wheeler's longstanding connection to the story
Moving, angering