Opren (Settlement) (Hansard, 17 March 1988) ---- an average of £1,800 per person

Opren (Settlement) (Hansard, 17 March 1988):


Mr. Jack Ashley (Stoke-on-Trent, South) said -



"The agony, disfigurements and deaths are akin to a battlefield. They have been cynically and systematically played down by the company, yet some of them are horrific. They include rashes which blister and bleed, ulceration and haemorrhages of the stomach, bladder incontinence, liver jaundice, kidney damage, acute eye sensitivity, detached finger nails and toe nails, and skin photosensitivity. The widow of one man who died wrote: The drug caused his hair to fall out, his kidneys became infected, dried his toe nails and finger nails on both hands and feet, burst two toes on the left foot which never stopped discharging till his death … he couldn't even bear the weight of a sheet on his feet. It is only those of us who have witnessed the sufferings from this drug who can tell of the agonies it produces on the human body'. To the 1,300 British people who are claiming compensation for Opren suffering, the company has offered a derisory £2.75 million—an average of £1,800 per person. This breathtaking contempt for victims, insulting attitude and brass-necked insolence can be understood only by appreciating the background of the company and its development of the drug. I hope that every Member of the House of Commons and House of Lords—and every Minister—will take careful note of the following facts."


http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1988/mar/17/opren-settlement