25/01/2010
Families Take vCJD Action to the High Court
A High Court action against the Secretary of State for Health, brought by of seven families, who have lost loved ones as a result of vCJD, is being heard in the High Court this week.
The claim alleges that the government acted unlawfully in rejecting proposals made by the Trustees of the Scheme. The Trustees, themselves appointed by the government, had made proposals to radically revise the scheme in June 2006 to make it fairer, less complex and less torturous for claimants, as well as being cheaper to operate. The families claim that various Secretaries of State for Health have been "unconscionably" slow in remedying defects with the scheme known since 2006.
The Secretary of State disputes the claim.
The first vCJD Trust scheme was set up by the government in April 2001 and its £67.5 million fund is administered by seven independent Trustees. Families have been critical of the scheme for many years as they have been required to submit to distressing psychiatric assessments and have seen claims capped and disallowed as suffering was not adjudged to have been "particular" enough.
In 2004, the Scheme attracted nationwide publicity for the costs generated in operating it by the Trustees and their solicitors, Charles Russell. The fees are paid from the same fund as the victims damages.
The Trustees recommended radical proposals to the Government to vary the scheme in June 2006. Families have recently discovered in documents released by the Department of Health 3 months before the Court hearing, that the Secretary of State rejected the Trustees proposals some years later and instead has approved only minor amendments which will only come into affect later this year and will have no impact on past families claims.
Annie Mc Vey, whose daughter Claire died of the disease in January 2000 and whose family is involved with the case has said "I would like the judge to say this has been a hellish time, that it was irresponsible for the Secretary of State to have done this. The decisions that were made were irrational and they need to go back and review them... the time has come to put an end to this."
Ian Cohen, whose firm Goodmans, represents those families bringing the Judicial Review says "Some of the families have found the claims process extremely painful and highly distressing. This scheme cannot be allowed to continue unchanged, whilst people are still being diagnosed with the disease and being required to submit their cases for assessment in a flawed scheme. This appears to have been recognised by the Trustees but not the Secretary of State"
The case starts on Tuesday 26 January and is expected to last three days.
Further details of the scheme can be found on the scheme’s website at http://www.vcjdtrust.co.uk
Goodmans Solicitors are based in N West England and are regarded as one of the country’s leading niche clinical negligence, healthcare regulation and personal injury law firms – see www.goodmanslaw.co.uk
vCJD – the first victim of the disease died in 1995 and since then there have been 177 cases. Although the current rate of diagnoses is low, victims continue to be diagnosed each year