Man with deadly Hep C virus not told after testing positive 20 years ago
A man says his GP failed to tell him he had a potentially deadly virus - over 20 years after he tested positive.
Frank Jamieson has been left feeling suicidal following years of deteriorating health, the cause of which was a mystery until recently.
In October the 58-year-old was told that he had hepatitis C and that it was likely he'd had the virus for 40 years as a result of an operation in 1984.
However, Frank later discovered that his GP surgery, Ardgowan Medical Practice, knew he'd tested positive for the virus back in 2002 - results he says were confirmed in January of the following year.
Frank, from Greenock, said that after making a complaint to the practice, he was told that his test results were never passed on to him because he didn't call to get them.
Caught up in the long-running contaminated blood scandal, Frank says he wants to speak out now in case there are others in Inverclyde in the same position.
He was finally told the news of his positive 'hep C' test last October after years of health problems. Now he is determined to see his GP surgery held accountable. He said: "It has ruined my life. I have suffered from depression for a long time and have lost everything.
"My health was so bad, and I had no idea why. It turned out they were all symptoms of hep C."
Frank is now under the care of the SAMH charity (Scottish Action for Mental Health) as well as the NHS's local community mental health team.
"I have been suicidal," he said. "Right now, I don't want to be here.
"I want justice. I want to be heard, and I want Ardgowan Medical Practice to take responsibility for what happened.
"The surgery had my results but they never passed them on. But after all those years of going to the doctor, and that information being on my file, they are blaming me."
The hepatitis C virus can cause chronic liver disease, potentially leading to cirrhosis, liver cancer or liver failure if untreated.
Fortunately Frank, who worked as an engineer until ill health forced him to give up work, is now free of hep C after undergoing anti-viral treatment.
He says that after staff at the IRH diagnosed him as having the virus in October, he was later contacted by Ardgowan Medical Practice, who produced positive blood test results dated January 6, 2003.
Frank said: "I had my blood tests taken in late 2002 because my now wife and I were set to go through another round of IVF. We had two unsuccessful tries on the NHS and were going to pay for a third.
"But that Christmas we both lost our jobs with Fullarton Electronics when they closed down. Our lives fell apart. All our plans were halted. We still got married, but we couldn't afford the IVF, so we weren't able to try again. Hepatitis C can cause infertility. We would have known that then if we'd had the results."
Frank did visit his doctor a year later, but says he was told nothing about the positive hep C test. And five years ago his health began to deteriorate rapidly, with severe nerve and joint pain.
He also began showing signs of Raynaud's phenomenon, which causes cold and numb fingers and is a visible symptom of hepatitis C. Medics now believe Frank contracted hepatitis C during an operation to correct a broken leg he suffered in a road accident in 1984.
"I've had hep C for 40 years," he said. "The accident happened on a bad winter's day, at the Tuck Shop, on the road outside the Ardgowan Practice, unbelievably.
"My leg didn't set right and I had to go in for an operation. Now I find I'm a victim of the contaminated blood scandal. But my journey is just beginning."
Frank showed a letter he received from Ardgowan Medical Practice, responding to his complaint, in which they told him that the procedure for blood test results is the same today as it was in 2003 - that patients should phone within seven days of the test to find out the results.
The practice also told Frank it has no record of a phone call from him asking for the results.
He also showed a letter from the practice in response to a second complaint made by Frank in which they say that unless he specifically asked about the blood test during an appointment, a GP would not check his records.
He said: "I want to speak out about this because I have nothing left to lose. I feel that Ardgowan Practice should be more accountable and take responsibility for what happened. There is no way they should not have passed those results on to me. I asked them, where were the results all those years? Were they sitting in a drawer until I phoned?
"This has destroyed my life. For 20 years it was known I had hep C. I want to make sure that this never happens to anyone else. If anything good is to come out of this, it is that people will be aware of what happened to me.
"There might be other people out there who have missed blood test results, who have hep C or something else and who don't know. I also fear that if I was infected by contaminated blood at the IRH in 1984 there might be other people out there in the same situation who don't know about it."
In a further blow, because of the passage of time, Frank says he has been told by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman that it will not investigate his case.
Frank is now hoping for justice through the Scottish Infected Blood Support Scheme (SIBSS) after facing a race against time to get his compensation claim in.
The SIBSS provides support to people in Scotland who contracted hepatitis C and/or HIV from NHS blood, blood products, or tissue.
Ardgowan Medical Practice decline to comment when approached.
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