Court rules in favour of eight haemophiliacs

Date: 15/02/1996

THE European Court of Human Rights has condemned Denmark for violating the rights of a group of haemophiliacs infected with the AIDS virus after being contaminated with infected blood.

The judges ruled that for eight of the ten haemophiliacs, the right to a legal hearing “within a reasonable time” enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated by the delays introduced into the proceedings by Danish authorities.

The haemophiliacs were infected between June 1978 and March 1987, and started their legal action in December 1987. But the cases did not come to court until November 1994.

In a majority verdict of six votes to three, the judges accepted that the Danish authorities were confronted with highly-complex issues, but insisted “this did not dispense them from ensuring compliance with the requirement of reasonable time”.

They added that the legal proceedings were crucial to those concerned “in view of the incurable disease from which they were suffering and their reduced life expectancy”.

The European Court of Human Rights awarded each of the eight successful applicants 13,680 ecu in damages.