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Arthur Bloom (physician)

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Arthur Leslie Bloom FRCP, FRCPath (1930–1992) was a Welsh physician focused on the field of Haemophilia.[1][2][3][4]

Early life and education

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Career

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In the 1970s/1980's, he was Chairman of the Haemophilia Centre Directors Organisation.[5]

Bloom served as Director of the Cardiff Haemophilia Centre and had held important positions with the World Federation of Haemophilia.

He was also a senior member of The Haemophilia Society's medical advisory panel and a member of the Central Blood Laboratories Authority (CBLA).[6]

Personal life and death

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Bloom died at the age of 62 on Thursday 12 November 1992.[7]

Controversy

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Being centrally placed, Bloom was one of the key figures in what would become known as the Tainted Blood Scandal, in which a large number of people were infected with hepatitis C and HIV, as a result of receiving contaminated blood or contaminated clotting factor products.[8][9] Some of his actions were highlighted in the Penrose Inquiry.[10]

In 2017, an episode of BBC Panorama alleged that Bloom had knowingly downplayed the risks of contracting HIV from Factor VIII blood products.[11][12] In the following year the allegation was repeated in The Guardian.[13]

On 15 April 2023, The Lancet reported that families testifying at the Infected Blood Inquiry had named Bloom multiple times alleging that he had failed to inform patients of the risks involved with their treatment.[14]

On 20 May 2024, the Inquiry's official report named Bloom as having made critical errors in the care of patients.[15]

Posthumous

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The Arthur Bloom Haemophilia Centre[16] which is a part of The University Hospital of Wales was named after him and provides services for people with haemophilia,[17] HIV/AIDS, & hepatitis C and their families.

In August 2019, following a campaign by the families of contaminated blood victims, a bust of the late professor was removed from the haemophilia centre of the University Hospital of Wales.[18] According to The Times, the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board removed the bust so as to "not cause any additional stress or upset to people visiting the centre".[19]

References

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  1. ^ "BSHT History". Archived from the original on 16 November 2016.
  2. ^ Bloom, A. L. (1 September 1978). "Clotting Factor Concentrates for Resistant Haemophilia". British Journal of Haematology. 40 (1): 21–27. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.1978.tb03635.x. ISSN 1365-2141. PMID 361064. S2CID 21838237.
  3. ^ Bloom, A. L.; Enoch, B. A.; Richards, H. J. (1 February 1968). "Major surgery in haemophilia. Prolonged substitution therapy for surgical treatment of haemophilic cyst and pathological fracture of the femur". British Journal of Surgery. 55 (2): 109–114. doi:10.1002/bjs.1800550210. ISSN 1365-2168. PMID 5635918. S2CID 32013527.
  4. ^ Christie, D A; Tansey, E M (10 February 1998). HAEMOPHILIA: RECENT HISTORY OF CLINICAL MANAGEMENT (PDF). Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.
  5. ^ Bloom, Arthur. Minutes of The Ninth Meeting of Haemophilia Reference Centre Directors held at the Oxford Haemophilia Centre (PDF). Oxford Haemophilia Centre: Penrose Inquiry. p. 1.
  6. ^ "Final Report: Chapter 12 - HIV/AIDS: Response and Clinical Practice". www.penroseinquiry.org.uk.
  7. ^ "Professor Arthur Bloom: a tribute - Documents". documentslide.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Taintedblood.info". Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Contaminated blood inquiry: Manslaughter claim against consultant". BBC.com. 25 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Chapter 8: HIV and AIDS". Preliminary Report (Report). The Penrose Inquiry. September 2010. 8.16 – 8.200. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  11. ^ Panorama (13 July 2017) [10 May 2017]. Contaminated Blood: The Search for the Truth (Television production). Wales: BBC Wales. Event occurs at 15:17. Retrieved 14 April 2023 – via YouTube. ...but it's now clear that Professor Bloom knew much more than he was telling. Eight weeks before he wrote to patients, he received this letter, which has only recently been made public. In it, a leading American specialist, Dr Bruce Evatt, tells Bloom that there are already thirteen haemophiliacs with AIDS in the US. They had all been given Factor VIII. It would only be a matter of time, Evatt suspected, before cases appeared in the UK. And on the 6th May the first UK case was reported in Cardiff where Professor Bloom practiced.
  12. ^ "BBC One - Panorama, Contaminated Blood: The Search for the Truth". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  13. ^ Hattenstone, Simon (3 March 2018). "Britain's contaminated blood scandal: 'I need them to admit they killed our son'". The Guardian.
  14. ^ Thornton, Jacqui (15 April 2023). "UK infected blood inquiry releases compensation report". The Lancet. 401 (10384): 1252–1254. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00762-6. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 37062289. S2CID 258114432. One of the UK's leading haematologists at the time, Arthur Bloom, who died aged 62 years in 1992, was Director of the Cardiff Haemophilia Centre. He has been named by a number of families giving evidence to the inquiry, some of whom have alleged that he failed to tell patients about the risks of the treatments they were given.
  15. ^ "Infected blood report latest: Campaigners 'gas-lit for generations' - as Hepatitis C testing recommended for wider group of patients". Sky News. 20 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Contaminated blood inquiry: Manslaughter claim against consultant". BBC News. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2024. The Arthur Bloom Haemophilia Centre in Cardiff is named after the consultant who died in 1992.
  17. ^ "UKHCDO Haemophilia Centres List". www.ukhcdo.org. UKHCDO.
  18. ^ Morris, Steven (1 August 2019). "Hospital removes bust of professor linked to blood scandal". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  19. ^ Burgess, Kaya. "Bust of top doctor Arthur Bloom is removed over role in infected blood scandal". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 14 April 2023. The Cardiff and Vale University health board said it had removed the bust "so as to not cause any additional stress" or upset to people visiting the centre.
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