The doctor who ran the haemophilia centre at the RVI in Newcastle "was lying" in a complaint he made about early coverage of the contaminated blood scandal, a senior journalist has said.
Susan Douglas - former editor of the Sunday Express - gave evidence at the judge-led Infected Blood Inquiry on Thursday. In May 1983 she wrote a story headlined: "Hospitals using killer blood". This was one of the earliest pieces of media coverage highlighting what became one of the NHS 's biggest scandals.
Thousands of haemophiliacs were infected with lethal viruses including HIV and hepatitis C, more than 2,400 are known to have died because of this. Others were infected through tainted blood transfusions. Much of the blood used was imported - including from prison donors in the US known to be at higher risk of passing on infections.
