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Wednesday 21 December 2011

British women to sue clinics over French-made breast implants


Hundreds of women with silicone implants made by Poly Implant Prothese say they have experienced 'ruptures and leakages'
Poly Implant Prothese silicone breast implants
Several British women are suing six clinics over medical problems allegedly caused by their silicone breast implants. 
Lawyers acting for about 250 women with silicone breast implants made by a French company are launching a high court case in Cardiff next year, suing about six clinics in the UK.
They allege that many women supplied with the implants made by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) have experienced "agonising problems, including ruptures and leakages".
Details of the action emerged as reports in France suggested up to 30,000 women may be told to have defective implants removed. The makers were shut down by French safety authorities last year.
It is thought about 40,000 British women may have the same implants, which were also stopped from being produced in this country. UK safety regulators have told women not to panic but to have their implants checked by the clinics where they had surgery. Similar advice has been given by two associations representing surgeons in the field.
According to the Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) most breast implants in the UK are fitted privately, with less than 5% used within the NHS for operations such as reconstruction following breast cancer.
Mark Harvey, a partner at Hugh James solicitors, said: "We wanted to pursue claims against PIP or its insurers. It is quite clear that is not viable."
Instead, the women would be pursuing action against clinics and more might still be included in the case. The court hearing next month would be for lawyers to apply for a group litigation order so that a class action could be launched. Clinics had entered into contracts with women, said Harvey, promising the implants would last a lifetime and would not rupture or leak silicone.
Although implants cost only a few hundred pounds, the surgery itself cost several thousands. "We have spent a lot of time trying to persuade clinics to resolve the matter without going to litigation," Harvey said. "That has not worked so far."
Some of his clients had complained of inflammation, fatigue and fibromyalgia, a muscoloskeletal pain disorder. "Whether it is ultimately linked, we don't know," Harvey said.
He added: "The NHS has come to the aid of some of the women where there was clinical need". Understandably, he said, the NHS was not prepared to pay for replacements.
In France, the Liberation newspaper reported that the French health ministry is preparing to tell all women with PIP implants they will be reimbursed their medical and surgery costs linked to removal (scans, analysis, removal of implant, post-operative tests). Women who have had reconstruction surgery after breast cancer will also be reimbursed for new replacement implants.
The paper reports that the health ministry feels that in the case of cosmetic surgery, women should pay for their own new replacement implants.
In France, where at least 20% of the women with PIP implants received them during reconstruction surgery after breast cancer, some 523 women have already had their implants removed over the past few years.
Eight cancer cases among women with PIP implants were announced last week by professor Jean-Yves Grall, director general at the French health ministry. Of these eight cases, five were breast cancer. One woman had died of anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a rare cancer that affects cells from the immune system.
The French Agency for the Safety of Health Products (Affsaps) said it had not established a cause-and-effect link between implants and cancer.
In Britain, the MHRA insists it has looked "very carefully" at the silicone in the implants and found "no evidence of any safety aspect associated with this filler", nor that it was substandard.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/21/british-women-sue-breast-implants?newsfeed=true

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