The former leading treater of haemophilia in the State, Prof Ian Temperley, was accused by a HIV-infected haemophiliac yesterday of going "missing" after the AIDS crisis broke in the mid-1980s.
The man, giving evidence under the pseudonym Anthony, said he considered Prof Temperley "a godsend in the initial stages" of his life due to the doctor's work in improving services for haemophiliacs.
However, when HIV became a big issue, "to me, he seemed to have disappeared."
Anthony said he had not seen the doctor, who was former medical director of the National Haemophilia Treatment Centre, from 1985 onwards.
"Any clinic I was at he was unavailable to be seen, and he was really who I wanted to see."
The witness said he was also disappointed at the absence of any support services after he tested positive for the virus.
He recalled that on the day he was told of his diagnosis by Dr Fred Jackson, he had to drive 80 miles home from Dublin on his own.
There was no follow-up counselling, he said. "I had to get on with it myself."
A severe haemophilia patient, Anthony said he could recall Prof Temperley sending him a letter around 1983 saying there was a slight chance of him being infected with HIV through blood products being used to treat his haemophilia. Anthony said he decided to take a chance and continue using the concentrates.
He added there were no further discussions about risks, saying the only other information he got about AIDS came from the media.
Anthony subsequently tested positive for hepatitis C and was put on a combination of drugs for both viruses as part of a set of clinical trials.
He said he was never told he was being used for the trials and, while he said he probably would have agreed to participate, he would have liked to have been given the choice. "You wanted to be more than just a number. You wanted to be asked," he said.
Earlier, the brother of a haemophiliac who died of an AIDS-related illness told the tribunal he believed infected product had been used "in a flippant manner".
Using the pseudonym Thomas, the man said his observation from listening to evidence to the tribunal was that "they knew it was not safe".
It came across to him, he said, that the product was used with "a kind of attitude. . .that 'so what if a few haemophiliacs become infected or die', that 'who's going to bother or be bothered?'. "
Thomas described how his brother Matthew (also a pseudonym) became involved in the Irish Haemophilia Society campaign for compensation for infected haemophiliacs. Thomas said his brother was too fearful of going public but he did write to a local politician who said "there was nothing he could do for him".
The politician "did not want to know", said Thomas, "because they felt they were not responsible" and felt there was no point getting involved.
Thomas also recalled how his brother was subjected to a spot-check by two social welfare officers while he was drawing benefit in the latter stages of his illness.
The two followed Matthew from his home to his brother's house where they asked to see work sheets and other documentation.
Thomas recalled Matthew commenting: "how well they can have two people observing what I am doing where I am hardly able to walk and I need a stick to help me, and there are others who need more supervision and nobody is watching them."
A married man with two children, Matthew was buried in the same week the Government announced a hardship fund for the families of infected haemophiliacs, said Thomas.
But "when he died he did not know they were going to get anything."
Also giving evidence yesterday was a man with the pseudonym Scott, a mild haemophiliac.
He first received concentrate for dental treatment as a 10-year-old and subsequently tested positive for hepatitis C. He said he never knew what went into the product or what sort of donors were used. Nor was he ever told of the risk of viral infection.
He said he had since suffered severe physical and psychological effects, had lost a lot of friends and had been forced to cease his involvement in sport.