The Poison Line cover art

The Poison Line

Life and Death in the Infected Blood Scandal

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The Poison Line

By: Cara McGoogan
Narrated by: Cara McGoogan
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The shocking true story of the infected blood scandal: the worst treatment disaster in NHS history, which saw people infected with HIV by a revolutionary medical treatment and a cover-up from governments and the multi-billion-dollar plasma industry.

Factor VIII was billed as a medical miracle when it was put on the market in the late 1960s: a revolutionary treatment that meant people with haemophilia no longer feared a bleed might prove fatal. But as the treatment was rolled out, haemophiliacs began to contract hepatitis and AIDS in terrifying numbers.

Even as medical bodies and pharmaceutical companies tried to discredit whistleblowers and diminish the evidence, it became abundantly clear that the miracle treatment was infected. Factor VIII was killing the very people it promised to protect. And government embarked on a cover-up on an industrial scale.

Award-winning investigative journalist Cara McGoogan follows the survivors-turned-campaigners, the small-town lawyers and the fearless journalists who took on some of the most powerful interests in the world to uncover what really happened in the infected blood scandal.

©2023 Cara McGoogan (P)2023 Penguin Audio Physical Illness & Disease True Crime Exciting

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All stars
Most relevant
I had to put this away multiple times because i was too angry and sad to listen any further. Great reporting, writing and narration. Would recommend!

Infuriating story

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I would like every person in Britain, the US and every other country where people were used as guinea pigs to prop up big pharma's profits, to read/listen to this book. The callous disregard for human life - in many cases children's lives - is absolutely gut-wrenching. Brava to Cara McGoogan for picking apart the evidence and creating such an eye-opening report. The way she weaves in the real stories of the people involved brought a tear to my eyes, many times. I hope the victims and their families will see justice.

"Scandal" doesn't even begin to describe it

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How the facts of this tragedy had been covered up by the government for so long is disgusting.

The truth comes out in the end.

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A story that everyone needs to know, not just because of the avoidable suffering and pain but as a warning from history given the current perilous state of the NHS and absence of moral character amongst our politicians and media.

Devastating account of hubris, abuse of power and human suffering

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This should be required reading, but the bored, raspy monotone of the author / narrator makes it hard to listen to for more than 20 minutes at a time.

Bored narrator ruins an important audiobook

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