Plaintiff in drug-induced hepatitis C lawsuit reveals her name

   A patient infected with hepatitis C through tainted blood products revealed her name at a press conference in Saga City on December 14 and called on the government to provide all hepatitis C victims with relief.

   Fujiwara Kazuko, 53, is one of the plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit at the Fukuoka District Court to determine the responsibility of the government and drugmakers over their hepatitis C infections.

   Among the 206 plaintiffs in such lawsuits throughout Japan, she became the 20th person who has made her name known to the public.

   Fujiwara was treated with fibrinogen, a tainted blood product, as a hemostatic agent in January 1989 when she gave birth to her first son and developed acute hepatitis a month later. In July this year, she was diagnosed with chronic hepatitis which may soon develop into cirrhosis.

   She decided to join the lawsuit after being told by a doctor at a hospital where she gave birth to her first son that her hepatitis C infection was due to the contaminated blood product she had been treated with.

   A proposal of a settlement that the Osaka High Court made on December 13 recognized the government responsibility for infection of patients who were given fibrinogen between April 1987 and June 1988. Fujiwara is not entitled to receive the government compensation according to the court-proposed settlement.

   At the press conference, Fujiwara, holding a photo of her and her son taken when he was a baby, said in tears that when she decided to release her name, “my son said to me, ‘I’m sorry for your suffering caused by me’.”

   “It is absolutely inappropriate for the government to not assume responsibility for allowing fibrinogen to be used while having known that the agent must not be used,” she said.
- Akahata, December 15, 2007