A woman suffering from hepatitis is fighting the Icelandic state for a revolutionary new treatment.
She says she wants a fresh start at life after 32 years of illness. The State Attorney says the fact that she contracted the disease at an Icelandic hospital is irrelevant to her case, from a legal point-of-view.
Fanney Björk Ásbjörnsdóttir, who lives on Vestmannaeyjar, was infected with hepatitis C during a blood transfusion after childbirth in 1983, RÚV reports. She has been in poor health ever since, but the disease was only diagnosed fairly recently—30 years after the transfusion.
She is now in a bitter legal dispute with the State after being repeatedly refused medicine which research suggests can successfully treat over 90 percent of cases within 12 weeks.
The treatment costs almost ISK 10 million (EUR 67,870/USD 74,206) and is therefore considered too expensive by the health service.
