A
AALARD
Guest
Deadline nears for tainted blood payout
OTTAWA, (UPI) -- As a deadline approached Wednesday for Canadians who received tainted blood to apply for compensation, lawyers said they were concerned funding is running out.
Despite a variety of funds totaling about $2.7 billion set aside by the government to compensate those who contracted HIV/Aids, or hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood between 1986 and 1990, fears were growing money is running out, The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday.
The family of one claimant, who died in 1992 after receiving a tainted blood transfusion in 1985, was awarded almost a half a million dollars as part of a class action settlement but has only received $125,000.
"They told us that the fund is nearly exhausted," Trevor Breslin, a claimant from Burlington, Ontario, said. "This is quite shocking."
More than 11,000 claimants in the hepatitis C fund have been paid with 3,500 outstanding, the newspaper said.
Harvey Strosberg, one of the lawyers overseeing the fund, said despite the number of claims outstanding, "there is no danger of running out of money."
"These compensation programs allowed people to live their lives with some dignity," said David Page, executive director of the Canadian Hemophilia Society. "But I don't think we can ever talk about lives and dollars in the same breath. We can never adequately compensate for tainted blood."
The deadline for applying for compensation was midnight Wednesday night, the report said.
OTTAWA, (UPI) -- As a deadline approached Wednesday for Canadians who received tainted blood to apply for compensation, lawyers said they were concerned funding is running out.
Despite a variety of funds totaling about $2.7 billion set aside by the government to compensate those who contracted HIV/Aids, or hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood between 1986 and 1990, fears were growing money is running out, The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday.
The family of one claimant, who died in 1992 after receiving a tainted blood transfusion in 1985, was awarded almost a half a million dollars as part of a class action settlement but has only received $125,000.
"They told us that the fund is nearly exhausted," Trevor Breslin, a claimant from Burlington, Ontario, said. "This is quite shocking."
More than 11,000 claimants in the hepatitis C fund have been paid with 3,500 outstanding, the newspaper said.
Harvey Strosberg, one of the lawyers overseeing the fund, said despite the number of claims outstanding, "there is no danger of running out of money."
"These compensation programs allowed people to live their lives with some dignity," said David Page, executive director of the Canadian Hemophilia Society. "But I don't think we can ever talk about lives and dollars in the same breath. We can never adequately compensate for tainted blood."
The deadline for applying for compensation was midnight Wednesday night, the report said.