British women begin legal action over defective breast implants
Thursday 22 December 2011
Related articles
Around 250 British women with breast implants made by a French firm are suing the UK clinics that performed the surgery.
The move comes amid warnings by leading doctors about the risks of rupture and possible links to cancer associated with the implants made by the firm Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP. Up to 50,000 women in Britain are thought to have the pre-filled silicone gel implants made by the now-defunct company.
The implants have been linked to the death of a French woman from a rare form of cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma, and the implants are implicated in another seven or eight similar cases.
They are filled with an unapproved gel and there have been reports that the protective barriers are faulty. Hundreds of the women affected by the product are to pursue high court case in Cardiff next year, according to Mark Harvey, a partner at Hugh James solicitors, who is representing them.
French authorities will formally announce tomorrow that up to 30,000 women who received a specific type of implant in France can have them taken out.
But the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has said there is no evidence to support removal of the implants.
Life & Style blogs
London renters are getting poorer and moving further out
Plus, do energy saving measures boost house prices?
London Collections: Men – Sporting, suiting, and the great in-between
The spring menswear season has only just begun, but I've already started to get deep and meaningful....
-
The 10 Best sports sunglasses
-
Apps: A poke in the eye for social-network friends
-
Viral video straps colt .45 handgun to a home-use drone
-
Bollywood star, Shahrukh Khan, accused of choosing sex of baby
-
'Deeply disturbing and appalling': NHS watchdog covered-up scandal at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust where eight babies died of neglect
- 1 Disability campaigners celebrate 'victory' after government rethink over plans to make it more difficult to claim disability benefits
- 2 'Jail reckless bankers': Report urges the Government to introduce new criminal offence for reckless management
- 3 Breaking the Silence: In the reality of occupation, there are no Palestinian civilians – only potential terrorists
- 4 Uri Geller psychic spy? The spoon-bender's secret life as a Mossad and CIA agent revealed
- 5 Vice pulls 'breathtakingly tasteless' fashion shoot glorifying the suicides of famous female authors from Sylvia Plath to Virginia Woolf
Get your summer started with British Military Fitness
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
How will you make today delicious?
Tell us how you plan to make today delicious and you could win a £50 M&S gift card.
Learn a new language
Add another string to your bow with Rosetta Stone, whether it's Spanish, Italian or Mandarin...
Win a Nook® Simple Touch eReader
Find out how Nook® is supporting the Evening Standard's Get Reading campaign - and your chance to win one.
Free reading festival for families
Follow The Standard's campaign to get London's children reading - and experience this unique event at Trafalgar Square on 13 July.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
iJobs General
FATCA Project Manager
£600 - £750 per day: Orgtel: FATCA Project Manager - Banking - London - £600-...
Ambitous PR Account Manager for Top London Agency!
£30000 - £35000 per annum: May & Stephens Recruitment Group: If you're an ambi...
PR Account Director - Top Healthcare Communications Agency
£43000 - £50000 per annum + £5K Car Allowance + Bens : May & Stephens Recrui...
PR Account Executive & Social Media Guru-Top Tech PR Agency!
£18000 - £22000 per annum + Bens : May & Stephens Recruitment Group: If you're...
First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention
Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title





Comments