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Death in the Blood
- Narrated by: Caroline Wheeler
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
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Death in the Blood
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Summary
In the 1970s and 1980s almost 5,000 people in the UK contracted HIV or hepatitis C after being infected by contaminated NHS blood products, including the notorious Factor VIII, yet no organisation or individual has ever been held to account. So far, more than 2,800 are known to have died, while tens of thousands more lives have been destroyed in the families of those affected.
Caroline Wheeler has been reporting on this scandal - the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS - for over two decades. She has been integral to the campaign for justice for the victims and their families, and played a pivotal role in persuading Prime Minister Theresa May to agree to the infected blood inquiry in 2019, the findings of which are expected to be published in late 2023.
Death in the Blood will be based on thousands of government documents, court and inquiry transcripts, plus interviews with prime ministers, cabinet ministers, Downing Street advisers, senior civil servants, doctors, and above all the victims and their families whose personal testimony forms the beating heart of this book.
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Critic reviews
This book should rock Whitehall to its foundations. It shows it was complicit in a criminal cover-up on an industrial scale lasting five decades. It should prompt major changes to the way Britain is run - starting with a duty of candour on all public servants. (Andy Burnham, Mayor of Great Manchester)
This is the definitive analysis of the worst health scandal in British history. The terrifying lengths that the state went to to hide this outrage should chill us all. Wheeler's compassion in her approach to the horror she uncovered will stay with me forever. (Professor Lucy Easthope, author of When the Dust Settles)
What listeners say about Death in the Blood
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 29-10-23
Gripping from start to finish
You will never believe the coverup from the government and medical professionals. The most outrageous story you never knew about.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Peter Wright
- 22-11-23
Solid account of the CBS, but a little overwritten
This is a good account of the Contaminated Blood Scandal, out at the ideal time as we await the final stretch of the inquiry. Wheeler is to be commended for her support of the community: I suspect most causes like this need journalists passionate about the truth.
This book will be an eye-opener for anyone who isn't at least indirectly linked to the CBS and it is mostly well written but it is perhaps not to my taste as Wheeler writes what to me feels like melodrama and overstatement into a tragic story that speaks for itself and doesn't require nearly as much repetition.
It is narrated very well, but I got a strange hiss for parts of the audiobook, so I marked down the performance a little.
I read The Poison Line first, before reading this/listening to this book. I think it's a better-written account that captures the details, outrage, and the heart of the CBS.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JENNIFER GOLDING
- 27-09-23
MUST READ
Heartbreaking account of injustice upon injustice, shocking how so many people in power covered this up. I felt so overwhelmed by this. Thank you Caroline Wheeler x
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Z. Hopkins
- 29-11-23
Not the right writer for this subject
Do yourself a favour and listen to The Blood Line by Cara McGoogan instead. Whilst I don’t doubt this authors ability, an Express journalist talking about ‘innocent victims’ and people who contracted diseases ‘through no fault of their own’ is not objective. Gave up and returned as authors approach and style was inappropriate and insulting.
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