The shocking true story of the contaminated blood scandal: the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, which saw people infected with HIV from a groundbreaking medical treatment and a cover-up by governments and the multi-billion dollar plasma industry.
"The Busy Wheel" is the compelling narrative of a terrifying scandal. Factor VIII was considered a medical marvel when it hit the market in the late 1960s: a revolutionary treatment that removed the fear of death for hemophiliacs. However, as the treatment was applied, hemophiliacs began contracting hepatitis and AIDS in alarming numbers. Despite efforts by medical authorities and pharmaceutical companies to discredit whistleblowers and downplay the evidence, it became clear that this miraculous treatment was contaminated. Factor VIII was killing the same people it promised to protect. And the government began a cover-up on an industrial scale.
Award-winning investigative journalist Cara McGoogan follows survivors turned activists, small-town lawyers, and fearless reporters who took on some of the world’s most powerful entities to uncover what really happened in the contaminated blood scandal.
This is a vital account of the contaminated blood scandal and the subsequent cover-up. The truth must be revealed.
A definitive account of one of the most terrifying scandals in modern medicine, shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize 2024. A 2023 Book of the Year by the Financial Times and Prospect.
Pages: 416, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm.
