Hepatitis C plaintiffs reject court-mediated settlement

   The Osaka High Court on December 13 made public an outline of the settlement plan in a lawsuit filed by plaintiffs infected with hepatitis C from tainted blood products.

   The plaintiffs immediately expressed rejection of the proposed settlement on the grounds that the plan limits victims that will be eligible for the government’s and drugmakers’ compensation.

   According to the plaintiffs and their lawyers, the settlement proposal recognized the drugmakers’ liability only for infection of plaintiffs who were treated with fibrinogen, the tainted drug, from August 1985 to June 1988 as well as of those who were given christmassin, the other tainted agent, only after January 1984.

   The Osaka High Court also acknowledged the government’s responsibility over infections through fibrinogen from April 1987 to June 1988 but did not recognize its liability for patients who were treated with christmassin.

   At a press conference later in the day, plaintiffs’ representative Yamaguchi Michiko called on Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo and Health Minister Masuzoe Yoichi to make a political decision to equally relieve all hepatitis C patients infected through tainted blood products.

   Kuwata Satoko, the Osaka lawsuit plaintiffs’ head, criticized the government for trying to impose limits on relief to victims by saying, “Why do lives have to be treated differentially?”
- Akahata, December 14, 2007