Hepatitis C woman wins greater compensation award in court

Mr Justice Bernard Barton, sitting in the High Court in Dublin, ruled in favour of the woman, saying that the “mental anguish” she had experienced was “abundantly clear”.

The court heard that the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, received a contaminated anti-D injection in 1977.

After receiving an interim award of €283,000 in 1998 from the tribunal established by the Government in 1995, she sought further compensation earlier this year for the side effects of later treatment and was awarded €180,000.

The woman developed decompensated cirrhosis and a brain injury as a side effect of combination therapy she began in 2013, which cleared her of hepatitis C.

She successfully argued that she should receive the same level of compensation as another woman who received the contaminated injection and developed cirrhosis, despite the Minister for Health’s argument that the circumstances were different.

Mr Justice Barton, announcing his judgment, said the court had the jurisdiction to compensate the woman for the complications of her medical treatment.