Infected blood scandal: Man found hospital letters detailing how to keep his HIV diagnosis a secret

Watch Martin's story...

A man who was 17 when he found out he was HIV positive, learned decades later that doctors had tried to keep his diagnosis a secret from him.

Martin Beard from Burton-on-Trent found out he was HIV positive in 1986, after being infected with contaminated blood 'Factor VIII' when he was treated for a knee bleed the year before.

He was told he had just two years left to live.

Martin attended a doctor's appointment with his mother, when he found out about his HIV.

He said: "We haven't even sat down, the door's still open and [the doctor] just looks at me and says 'Hello, I see you're HIV positive'.

He adds: "It didn't really register with me because I was a pretty healthy teenager. I just looked at him and said 'Oh well, that's life'.

"And he goes 'that's your life for the next two years'. I asked what he meant. He said 'you've got about two years to live'. And then it hit me."

"We note Martin is HIV positive but is not aware of this. We do not wish for this to be divulged to him."

In 2002, a lawsuit into the infected blood scandal began and Martin was asked to collect his medical notes from various hospitals that he'd been treated under.

His medical notes were sent to him and among them, he found a letter from 1985 - a year before he was told that he was HIV positive.

He said: "The letter is basically saying that between doctors - Martin's been to see us with a bleed in his knee.

"We injected him with 1060 units of Factor VIII, and he will return to the centre if he has any further problems.

"But then there's that short paragraph - we note he is HIV antibody positive but is not aware of this.

"And you do not wish this to be divulged to him. We shall make every effort to comply with your wishes."

The first place Martin experienced discrimination due to his HIV diagnosis was in hospital, he told ITV News.

He was treated the year after finding out he was HIV positive and was put in isolation on a ward, with staff dressed in protective clothing when they brought him food.

Martin said he even had to inject himself, as staff wouldn't make up the syringes or inject him themselves.

"It was such a scary feeling being in a new hospital, in isolation and you were kind of just shut away..."

Martin tells ITV News that in an ideal world there'd be some justice, but for someone to be held accountable is "highly impossible".

He says there are people who've lost loved ones, businesses, homes - and the important thing for him is that it can never ever happen again to anyone.

"Justice has to be served".

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