Expert report to the infected blood inquiry: Medical ethics

Abstract

This report has been written by a medical ethics expert group appointed by Sir Brian Langstaff in 2019 on behalf of the Infected Blood Inquiry (‘the Inquiry’). In the Letter of Instruction from the Inquiry, we were asked to respond to a series of specific questions grouped into six sections, together with supplemental questions added at a later date. This report is organised into those six sections and we respond to each of the questions, numbered as per the letters of instruction. Our report discusses the ethical principles that should govern and inform clinical decisionmaking. We are instructed to express our opinion on the matters set out from today’s perspective and, where we identify changes or developments, to make reference to them. With regard to legal variations between the devolved administrations, we focus on English law simply because that corresponds to our expertise. With regard to terminology, we use ‘child’ as a shorthand for any person under the age of 18 and ‘doctor’/‘clinician’ as a shorthand for healthcare professional. Anyone reading the report from start to finish will notice a degree of repetition. Having tested for consistency, we felt it was important to answer each question as fully as necessary, even where similar points were being made. In some cases, we have cross referenced between questions to indicate the relevance of material covered in more detail elsewhere in the report.

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ORCID for Melinee Kazarian: orcid.org/0000-0003-0740-3155

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