The former leading treater of haemophiliacs claimed on his final day in the witness box at the Lindsay tribunal yesterday that he was just one of a number of people to advise the Blood Transfusion Service Board on products for patients.
Prof Ian Temperley said he felt his role in advising the BTSB had been "over-emphasised" by a previous witness, the former chief executive officer of the blood bank, Mr Ted Keyes.
In his evidence last September, Mr Keyes said Prof Temperley's advice was sought in the late 1980s after the Armour Pharmaceutical Company asked to be indemnified against the consequences of any infection which might arise from the use of products it was supplying to the BTSB.
Mr Keyes said the indemnity letter posed problems. It was discussed with Prof Temperley and he indicated he would be happy to use the Armour products for a certain length of time. The arrangement with Armour continued to the end of 1989.
Prof Temperley said when he read the transcript of Mr Keyes's evidence he felt he had been put into a position of authority beyond which he would have associated himself.
Earlier, Prof Temperley said all treaters faced difficulties during the 1980s because knowledge about HIV was only emerging and even experts were confused. It was difficult to provide guidelines because "one felt one was standing on shifting sand".
He also emphasised that the rate of HIV infection in haemophiliacs in countries with greater resources was similar to this State.
He said his workload was so great he had little time to engage in private practice. When HIV became a problem among his patients, "we were put to the pin of our collar to cope".
Dr Fred Jackson, a consultant haematologist with the South-Eastern Health Board, who provided locum cover for Prof Temperley during part of his sabbatical in 1985, began his evidence yesterday afternoon.
During October 1985 Dr Jackson informed several haemophiliacs that they were HIV positive, but he could not recall if there was a specific system in place to tell patients the results of their HIV tests. He took over from Dr Helena Daly, who covered the first part of the sabbatical.
Dr Jackson spent a period of his training in the BTSB before working in a London hospital. On returning in July 1987, he again informed patients who previously hadn't been told of their HIV status. One of them was "Vincent" who had been tested in October 1985 but never given the results.
He said doctors were not sure at the time what the consequences of HIV were for the patient's health, but he knew the virus was blood-borne and gave advice on how to avoid transmission to others.
Questioned by counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Finlay SC, about the introduction of BTSB heat-treated products in St James's Hospital in October 1985, Dr Jackson said he could not recall being involved in setting up a mechanism to recall or quarantine non-heat-treated products at that stage. "I don't know that the system was as efficient as it would be today."
