Description

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.

‘The Poison Line is the gripping tale of a terrible scandal’ Jonathan Freedland, author of The Escape Artist

‘Books are routinely described as extraordinary, but this one really is’ John Preston, author of Fall
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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.
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‘This is a vital account of the infected blood scandal and subsequent cover-up . . . The truth must be told’ Andy Burnham

‘McGoogan’s work serves as a beacon for those of us dedicated to uncovering facts in the service of justice and human rights’ Eliot Higgins, author of We Are Bellingcat

‘The definitive account of one of modern medicine’s most chilling scandals’ Gerald Posner, author of Pharma

Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize 2024

A Financial Times and Prospect 2023 Book of the Year

Publisher Review

Told with page-turning pace, a forensic grasp of detail and deep human compassion, The Poison Line is the gripping tale of a terrible scandal. It turns on the hubris of doctors, the folly of politicians and, above all, the greed of some of the world's biggest drug companies. At its centre, are the people - many of them children - who trusted those who promised to heal them and paid an unforgivable price for that trust. In telling their story, and laying bare a cover-up maintained over four decades, Cara McGoogan has done them - and all of us - an essential service -- Jonathan Freedland, author of The Escape Artist Beautifully written, as vivid as it is light-fingered, this is also a devastating piece of reportage. Books are routinely described as extraordinary, but this one really is -- John Preston, author of Fall In The Poison Line, Cara McGoogan masterfully unveils the depths of a scandal with precision and clarity. Through meticulous investigation and compelling storytelling, McGoogan not only brings to light the grave injustices suffered by victims but also underscores the vital importance of transparency and accountability in a world all too willing to hide uncomfortable truths. Her work serves as a beacon for those of us dedicated to uncovering facts in the service of justice and human rights -- Eliot Higgins, author of We Are Bellingcat A revelatory work of non-fiction . . . The Poison Line renders personal tragedy on a mass scale: it's a shuddering achievement -- Simon Ings * Telegraph * Factor VIII was supposed to be a miracle treatment for the clotting disorder haemophilia but instead became an agent of death . . . pharmaceutical companies, governments and medical bodies conspired to keep the global scandal under wraps, despite whistleblower evidence. A deeply shocking account of medical injustice -- Anjana Ahuja * Financial Times, Best Books of 2023 * This is a vital account of the infected blood scandal and subsequent cover-up, which caused enormous harm to so many people. The truth must be told, no matter how hard it is, for the system to change -- Andy Burnham The motivation of the companies producing Factor VIII in the US was clear: profit . . . As McGoogan points out, the parallels with the present-day opioid crisis in the US are clear -- Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite * London Review of Books * A powerful read . . . grounded as it is in emotive stories and dramatic language, while covering the more expansive international contexts in which medical decision-making takes place -- Fay Bound Alberti * Times Literary Supplement * Both a riveting thriller and a devastating investigation that is all the more infuriating and gripping because everything in its pages happened to innocent children and their families, in corporations' careless quest for profits. Once you plunge into this story, you will be holding onto your seat and turning the pages to see what terrible fate will befall young hemophiliacs who were kept in the dark for actual years about the fatal virus lurking in their medical treatments, and whether the doctors who violated their oath to protect their patients and the pharmaceutical companies who lied about their contaminated blood will finally get just punishment -- Carol Leonnig, author of Zero Fail and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Cara McGoogan's The Poison Line is a brilliant act of investigative cartography, tracking the virus-ridden blood packs from their source (a prison in Louisiana) to patients in the US, the UK and beyond * Prospect, Books of the Year 2023 * This is an absolutely invaluable work of investigation, a book that terrifies and enrages, and a ferociously brave model of truth-telling -- Juliet Nicolson * author of Frostquake * This deeply moving account of the infected blood scandal is a must read. Though devastating, the humanity and courage of the patients and campaigners shines through on every page. I loved this book -- Dr Jim Down * author of Life in the Balance * Cara McGoogan is an indefatigable detective and a born storyteller -- Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, staff writer at The New Yorker The distressing details are laid out in forensic and heart-wrenching detail . . . McGoogan documents the near-incomprehensible scale of lies and deception that define this scandal - most egregiously the cover-up by doctors, pharmaceutical companies and governments who went on allowing infectious products to be used while aware they were potentially deadly -- Phoebe Davis * Tortoise * A hugely impressive work of reportage, The Poison Line is a gripping and moving account of a shocking true story. Cara McGoogan's meticulous research and skilful writing are made all the more powerful by her deep compassion for the victims of this appalling and maddening tragedy -- Ben Hinshaw, author of Exactly What You Mean A riveting story of pharmaceutical and government malfeasance and cover up that left a trail of death and misery in its wake. Cara McGoogan's in-depth reporting and seamless writing makes The Poison Line the definitive account of one of modern medicine's most chilling scandals -- Gerald Posner, Pulitzer Prize Finalist and author of Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America I'll never be the same. No one who reads it will -- Tom Mull, lawyer at Mull & Mull who fought Alpha, Armour, Baxter and Bayer for a decade An incredibly powerful and important piece of reporting filled with so much anger and sadness from the first to last page -- Heather Darwent, author of The Things We Do To Our Friends A fluidly written, deeply reported and ambitious expose . . . The author displays an eye for the poignant detail -- Sarah Neville * Financial Times * Tells the full story of the infected blood scandal over more than 40 years -- Eleanor Peake * i * My first introduction to Cara McGoogan's work was her expertly researched and presented Bed of Lies, not only a masterclass in compelling storytelling in audio but also on holding power to account. Her journalistic instinct to illuminate corruption and institutional abuse, partnered with her delicate and nuanced style, makes her work unmissable -- Alice Levine, TV and radio presenter, and host of the Wondery podcast British Scandal Cara McGoogan is a dogged reporter whose investigation is a timely one. I can't wait to read her book -- Joshua Hunt, author of University of Nike McGoogan tenaciously tells the appalling story of this scandal and the lengths to which Big Pharma and governments went to cover it up -- Bookseller