Patients infected with HIV paid £24,000 to sign away their legal rights to sue

In a shocking revelation, close to 1,200 patients who had been infected with HIV were reportedly made to sign a contract with UK government officials giving up their right to sue just before finding out devastating news, the Daily Mail reported.

According to the report, after the patients signed they were notified they also had hepatitis C. Patients that suffer from both diseases are likely to die faster.

The victims, back in 1991, were made around £24,000.

"The Department of Health was aware in 1989 that the patients had hepatitis C – which causes severe liver damage – but didn’t tell them until after the contracts had been signed," the report stated.

The news expose a cover-up by the UK government in what is being called "NHS’s worst treatment disaster".

After being given blood products or transfusions in the 1970s and 1980s, close to 7,500 patients were infected with the disease.