The background to the case is as follows. The woman concerned tested positive for hepatitis C in October 1997, while she and her family were resident in the State. Subsequently, she attended the liver unit at St James's Hospital in Dublin, and claimed travelling and subsistence expenses from the ex-gratia scheme operated by the Blood Transfusion Service Board, now the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. The ex-gratia scheme was introduced in 1994 to ensure that persons who had contracted hepatitis C through the administration within the State of blood and blood products made available by the BTSB did not undergo any undue hardship in availing of medical treatment for their condition. The ex-gratia payments are made on an interim basis, pending the award of compensation by the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal or by the courts.
The BTSB made ex-gratia payments totalling £2,061 to the woman concerned, between November 1997 and April 1998. Ex-gratia payments are usually made on production of receipts. However, following representations from the support group Positive Action to the Department in December 1997, arrangements were made to pay the woman in advance. The BTSB ceased making ex-gratia payments to the woman in April 1998. In order to continue making payments the board required medical evidence that anti-D had in fact been administered to her. It wrote to the woman on 5 June, 15 June and 7 July 1998 requesting this confirmation. No such confirmation has been provided to the BTSB to date.
A serious dispute has emerged in this case between the woman and the Western Health Board regarding the source of her hepatitis C infection. The woman herself believes that the source was infected anti-D and is of the strong view that anti-D was administered to her following the birth of her child in Castlebar hospital in March 1993. She alleges that a medical record was later altered to denote that anti-D was not administered. The board stated that its medical records show that anti-D was not administered to the woman while she was under its care in March 1993.
The BTSB has had a sequencing test carried out on a blood sample from the woman concerned. Tests carried out by the independent laboratory jointly run by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Edinburgh indicated that the source of the woman's hepatitis C infection was not the anti-D product manufactured by the BTSB. The laboratory's findings are disputed by the woman.