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One woman described her father's death certificate recording heart failure as the cause of death because "This was at a time when no-one put HIV/AIDS or any related illnesses on death certificates if at all possible for sensitive reasons..."

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A woman stated that when she got home from the Inquest into her husband's death: "there were people from the press surrounding my house. I locked my door and wouldn't answer any questions but they continued to bang on my door and the back wall of the house."

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Mary Grindley said after her husband John's death: "I don't think John would have been too worried about what they wrote but my first thought was for my son. I told them I didn't want HIV or AIDS on the death certificate".

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Deborah James whose brother's death was recorded as solely due to Hodgkin's disease, stated: "Upon Glyn's passing medical staff told my Mother and Father that if they consented to the cause of death being Hodgkin's and not hepatitis C (HCV) then the family could avoid a post mortem."

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One person whose father was infected with Hepatitis C and HIV stated: "We made sure when my father died that his death certificate did not mention HIV or hepatitis C. It just says liver failure and states the symptoms of death rather than the cause to stave off any stigma attached to the hepatitis C infection."

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For Steve Dymond's widow, Su Gorman, it was a matter of considerable importance that the coroner recorded the medical cause of Steve's death as "1c Hepatitis C Infection Acquired from a contaminated blood product" on the record of the inquest.

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The coroner explored the circumstances of Steve Dymond's death and reached a conclusion that: "As a result of the infection with hepatitis C he suffered a variety of mental and physical symptoms which impacted on his university education, his career, his marriage and his ability to have children."

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One person noted of their father that: "The cause of his death was recorded as pneumocystis pneumonia. I am angry that this was recorded on his death certificate, and that there was no reference to HIV or contaminated blood products. At the time, the doctors suggested they were protecting me by not recording HIV, when I think they were protecting themselves."

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Dr Peter Hamilton stated that: "Because of the considerable stigmatisation of patients with Haemophilia and acutely in those with HIV...it is my recollection that Dr Jones had come to an accommodation with the Newcastle Coroner to refrain from writing HIV/AIDS on the Death Certificate..."

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In his written evidence to the Inquiry, John Peaty noted with regard to the inquest into the death of Stuart Fuller that once the Department of Health were invited to become party to the inquest it was noticeable that the long-held government line of 'the risks were not known and benefits of treatment far outweighed any risk' became the prominent view.

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In Philip Cuthbert's written statement, he stated that his father's death certificate not referring to AIDS, HIV, Hepatitis C "or even haemophilia" amounted to them "trying to cover up the truth" even on his death certificate.

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Pursuant to Inquests and Post-Mortem Examinations 1963, in Northern Ireland the coroner or jury was not precluded from making a recommendation to prevent the recurrence of fatalities similar to that in respect of which the inquest was being held.

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Instructions issued to Registrars of death informed them not to enquire about how HIV was contracted if it was included on the death certificate.

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In his statement to the Inquiry, Mark Flynn, for the General Register Office, stated that during the relevant period "A death from infected blood would be, and would have been, considered to be unnatural and therefore requiring referral to a coroner."

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A memo from W Jenkins to Dr Ashley relayed concerns about unsatisfactory causes of death being accepted by registrars and the need for adequate training for junior house officers.

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The Office for National Statistics and HM Passport Office issued guidance to clinicians in England and Wales for completing a medical certificate of cause of death.

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A letter from Michael Burgess to Dr McCormick expressed concern that doctors might deliberately omit all or any reference to AIDS or HIV as being the (or an) underlying or contributory cause, even if fully aware of it. He stated that he understood that might be due to stigma for the family of having that on the certificate. Thus, a certificate was issued which was, on the face of it, incorrect.

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A letter from the General Register Office to Hazel Smith firmly rejected the proposal of the doctor stating the cause of death as the opportunistic infection rather than AIDS or HIV. He stated that the certificate had to be in its prescribed format and doctors who deliberately concealed information relating to a cause of death were acting unlawfully.

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In the narrative verdict for Stuart Fuller it was held that: "the HIV infection resulted from the administration of imported blood products from the United States of America administered between June 1981 and April 1982. At the time that the blood products were given to him the risks of infection were not known and the benefit of such products far outweighed the risks of infection".

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The West Sussex policy document, "Control of Viral Hepatitis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infections", stated that "Confidentiality must be maintained as in life. It may be appropriate to complete the death certificate in more general diagnostic terms. In this case the box offering 'further information' must be ticked."

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