Lawyer In CJD Compensation Battle

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

28/04/2008

A lawyer is fighting for compensation for the wife of a man who died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease after receiving growth hormone treatment more than 20 years ago.

David Body, of Irwin Mitchell solicitors, is representing Amanda Hepworth in her claim after her husband Nick died from CJD in January.

An inquest into Mr Hepworth's death in Huddersfield found he died as a result of iatrogenic CJD caused by contaminated growth hormone.

Mr Hepworth, 44, from Scissett, near Huddersfield, was injected with the growth hormone which is taken from the pituitary glands of dead bodies and used to help stunted children grow.

It is believed about one person in 300 given the treatment has contracted CJD and Nick was the 53rd affected person to die, although there have been more deaths since.

Mr Body said: "It is just the most extraordinary state of affairs that we have got this condition that, 20 or 25 years after treatment, is affecting patients and it is in the back of the mind of anyone who has been treated."

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